The Grey Warriors
by 4eva96
Summary: (A new attempt at a fiction I wrote years ago) The 5th blight is now upon the world, as many recruits as possible are needed and luckily for Duncan the warden commander his journey leads him to find seven. Seven origins, seven wardens will stand up to save the world and slay the archdemon.
1. Chapter 1 Sigurd Brosca

Sigurd: a broad, muscular dwarf with thick bushy brown hair and beard left stained with dust from Dust Town, he bares the mark of the casteless as well as a number of scars from years of fighting but his blue eyes are said to hold a kindness not often found in carta dwarves. You can find his drawing on my tumblr account RhoKio though its not the best.

Being casteless was a bad deal, no respect, harsh rules, no chance at bettering yourself while the rest of the world spits on your very existence. At least it had consistency, wake up to a crumbling home, work in a crummy barely maintained district beating people up, punching Leske for another lewd comment about Rica, then sleeping in a barely usable bed. That had been Sigurd's routine for some time now, though he was starting to get sick of it. Beraht was scum, scum who had no problem ordering hits, beatings, robberies or whoring Sigurd's sister out as a noble hunter. But there was little choice of work for the casteless, and Beraht was the leader of the Carta so no one got out of his service alive; or they were left to rot once they got too swing a sword.

Supposedly this was meant to be an extremely rare day off for Sigurd, he'd planned on using that time to spend some time with his sister but he could hear Beraht's voice coming from the main room. As much as he wanted to avoid Beraht he wasn't letting the bastard talk to his sister alone, he swung his legs off the bed getting up to storm into the main room.

"Ah there's your dear brother, I was wondering why you weren't working"

"Day off" Sigurd grunted, moving to stand beside his sister. Compared to the higher classes Sigurd still considered his sister to be a beautiful woman it still stuck him strange seeing her dressed in the finery Beraht provided and her hair done the same style as the nobles. It just didn't look right in Dust Town, she deserved better than this life.

"You know I was kidding, right? Or did you finally get too many hits to the head?"

"Fine. What do you want?"

"You need to watch your tone. Remember I'm the only chance you got at making a living in this dump, and I can replace you very easily" he threatened "Find Leske, he'll fill you in on the details"

"Fine. I'll head out once I'm dressed. You can close the door on your way out" they glared at each other for several tense seconds before Beraht get fed up and left, slamming the door as he went almost knocking it off the hinges.

"You really need to stop testing him so much" Rica warned, slumping on one of the few pieces of furniture the house had. They both new Beraht would have a fit seeing her sit so informally but as far as Sigurd knew he'd kept her out all night at some party to find some drunk noble she could bed.

"As long as it keeps him off your back" Sigurd argued, moving to the trunk by the door where he stored his armour. Second hand junk that it was, it was better than nothing and better than what other casteless had. Guess it was one of the few, extremely few, perks that came from being in Beraht's employment.

"I'm the big sister here, it's my job to look after you" Rica said half joking half sincere. She leaned forward, taking Sigurd's calloused hand in hers, giving is a reassuring squeeze.

"And I'm the one with the axe. I'll go show a few folks who's boss and when I get back we'll have dinner together, been a while since we done that"

"We haven't exactly had enough money to get both of us something to eat" Rica pointed out "I, um. I've been meaning to tell you, I have a suitor. I mean I think he's interested, he's been seeing me without going straight for a tumble. He's gifted me some money when I told him we were running short. I was saving for something special, maybe tonight can be that?"

"I'd like that. I made a bit of side coin myself, it's in a bag under my bed so use that too. Have you told Beraht?"

"No, I wanted you to be the first to know. And even then, I don't want to tell you who in case I'm just getting my hopes up" Rica admitted, Sigurd went and sat his hand on her shoulder squeezing it.

"Any man would be lucky to have you. Stay safe today alright?" he grabbed his axe from where is was tucked in under the table, balancing it on his shoulders.

"Make sure you come home alright? It's lonely enough since mum passed, even if was mostly just drunk rants or sobbing" it had been a few months since their mother died, they went to wake her one morning and she just didn't wake up.

"Have a good day sis" he said as he passed through the front door. The stench of Dust Town never faded it was so bad. Some days Sigurd wanted to just take what little he owned and head up to the surface, not like he had a caste or title to lose, but he knew Beraht would never allow both him and his sister to leave; and Sigurd would never leave Rica alone in Beraht's care.

The inappropriate jokester merc that was Leske wasn't too far from Sigurd's home, he was leaning against the wall of a cheap bar not even attempting to hide the fact he was eyeing up some of the female residents of Dust Town.

"Respect Leske. Learn it"

"You know the women here, they love a rough man for a tumble or two" Leske leered as another woman walked past. With a grunt, Sigurd punched his friend straight in the face.

"This is why I don't let you near my sister. What's the job?"

"Testy today, aren't we? Beraht's made a bet on today's proving, we need to ensure it goes his way. You need to make sure it goes his way, he still suspects you stole from him"

"He gave us papers?" Leske nodded, pulling the stamped passes out from his pocket "Good. If I heard right this proving's for the king's daughter, they wouldn't want our sort anywhere near the proving even on less important circumstances"

Sigurd turned to leave Dust Town, he could hear Leske's heavy irregular footsteps behind him; his work mate had dislocated his knee some time ago. He claimed it healed properly but Sigurd knew otherwise, if Beraht found ever found out then Leske would be out of the job so Sigurd said nothing.

With the proving happening the streets of Orzammar were bustling even more than usual, people were drinking, some were dancing and others were excitedly talking about the matches. They made mention of the princess Brynja, supposedly she was one of the most beautiful noble ladies but her heart belonged to her second; who because of his caste was forbidden from marrying. Word also had it she was favoured by the assembly, and the people over her older brother the next in line in be king. One of the rumours going around the people was the younger prince had taken up with a suspected noble hunter. And something about a grey warden supposedly attending today's proving but that was about as much information as Sigurd could make out. As soon as he and Leske wandered too close they would clam up and swiftly moved away. Always fast to react a guard came up to them as they approached the entrance to the proving hall.

"Get lost casteless. We don't need your kind defiling the provings" he snarled

"We got papers, we're here to clean up after you" Sigurd snarled back as Leske handed the guard their papers.

"These seem to be in order. Fine" the guard stepped out the way letting them enter.

Members of the warrior caste were roaming around, bearing armour and weapons Sigurd could only imagine holding. They looked at the pair with complete disgust, Sigurd wouldn't be too surprised if they tried to attack them; considering their presence an unforgivable affront to the proving. There was a human man in armour standing in the middle of the hall, he stood tall and proud. He must have sensed Sigurd staring and turned his head. There was no judgement on the man's face, meaning he either had little grasp of the caste system, he didn't care or was good at masking his emotions well. If the gossip was true then this must have been a grey warden. There was a sharp jab to his side as Leske was getting impatient to get moving.

"We gotta find a guy named Mainar, Beraht put a bet on Everd to win against him but the guys like a trained veteran the kids got no chance without us slipping a little something in Mainar's drink; just enough to take his edge off" Leske explained as he lead the way around "We just gotta find the kid first, see when he's fighting Mainar" they rounded a corner and into one of the rooms reserved for the fighters to rest before their fights. On the ground was a barely conscious drunk out of his mind dwarf. "Shit"

Sigurd lightly kicked the unconscious man getting only a garbled grumble in return, other than that the man showed no sign of waking anytime soon. Grabbing the young man's arms Sigurd dragged the inert body so it was hidden behind the door to the room, so at least it wouldn't be so easy to notice by wandering guards and competitors.

"Watch the door. I'm going to put on his armour"

"You're going to what?"

"Put on his armour. Even with that potion he's not going to beat Mainar in this state. So I'm going to fight in his place" Sigurd explained as he started swapping out his battered down armour for the well maintained armour of Everd.

"Why should you get the pleasure of beating the stone out the warrior caste?"

"I know about your knee Leske. These are warrior caste, you can't beat them. Least I have a chance, I just need to beat Mainar and that'll keep Beraht off our asses" Leske took a moment to stare at him, in one of those few moments that he actually let himself look a little vulnerable. It was only for a moment though before the walls in his eyes came back up.

"Guards heading our way, I'll distract them" he said as he left the room. A moment passed and the sounds of people faded from outside as Sigurd finished dressing. The helmet was a little loose, Everd must have an unusually big head, but it was enough to cover nearly all of his face and head.

The armour felt strange to wear as Sigurd walked back out Everd's room, closing the door behind him. As he went about his way he noticed a woman standing in one of the alcoves in the wall, she was clearly of a high class considering the condition of her armour though her hair wasn't styled in a noble fashion. The woman moved her head and noticed Sigurd watching her, she lifted a hand and gestured for him to approach which he did.

"Your helmet's ill fitting, it's not good for combat if you're wanting to win" she said in a pleasing voice

"It's too give the others a fighting chance, or it'd be too easy" Sigurd retorted, it occurred to him it probably wasn't the best idea to converse with someone when he had no idea how Everd acted.

"Ha-ha, someone's a little too confident perhaps?" she said in a light-hearted manner, at which point Sigurd guessed who he was talking with.

"You'll see for yourself soon enough princess"

"Please, call me Brynja. If you're as good as you claim to be maybe I'll challenge you to a fight"

"It'd be an honour, Brynja" Sigurd heard a dwarf calling for the fighters to take their places, he called out for Everd and Mainar specifically. He bowed to Brynja "The proving calls, enjoy the fights" Sigurd bid her farewell before heading for the entrance into the proving arena.

Instantly Sigurd was hit by an enormous wall of sound, as crowds of dwarves were shouting and cheering in the seats surrounding the arena. The arena itself was huge, they could fit several homes in the space alone if they didn't believe the space more useful as a fighting ring. Looking up to the seats Sigurd spotted the human man from earlier, sitting with the fight announcer some nobles and Brynja. The man next to her he assumed to be her second and believed lover. At the opposite side of the arena his opponent Mainar waltzed in. He bowed his head and said something about the best man winning, Sigurd was partially deaf in one ear and he was finding it difficult to hear properly over the sounds of the crowds so just bowed back, readying his axe. From overheard conversation Sigurd at least knew the rules of provings, it wasn't a to the death these fights just to surrender.

Mainar charged forward, sword and shield at the ready, he swung the sword horizontally towards Sigurd's head. He ducked stepping backwards at the same time, he hefted his axe lunging forward driving the butt of the axe's pole into Mainar's gut. A sharp gasp came out of the dwarf as the air was knocked out of him, he stumbled back his non-sword arm clutching at his abdomen. A boo resounded from the crowd. Bringing the axe above his head Sigurd brought it down towards his opponent, forcing the man to let go of his stomach to raise his shield to stop the axe. Despite the supposed better quality of warrior caste weapons the shield splintered with the force of Sigurd's strike, Mainar had a look of surprise on his face. He was meant to be fighting a young man, guess Sigurd's own strength from years of fighting for his life was catching the veteran off guard.

The dwarf pushed off the ground knocking Sigurd back trying to hit him with the sword again, once, twice, three strikes each one blocked by the handle of Sigurd's axe. On the third strike Mainar's sword got stuck in one of the ridges of the axe handle, he feebly attempted to dislodge his weapon but he wasn't successful. Sigurd sharply pulled his axe backwards, wrenching the sword from the man's grip; before swinging the axe around dislodging the sword sending it flying across the arena. Raising the axe again Sigurd aimed for Mainar's shield arm, hitting it hard enough for the shield to shatter; so much for superior craftsmanship. He stopped the attack just before it would cut the man's hand off but enough for the blade to slice into the skin enough to hit bone so he wouldn't be able to hold a shield for a while. With a final move Sigurd placed the blade of his axe right against Mainar's neck, helped he wasn't wearing a helmet giving easy access to what would have been an easy kill strike. He had to admit, it was an interesting change of pace not having to end a fight with death.

"The winner of this bout is Everd" the announcer yelled to the cheering crowds, Sigurd withdrew his axe backing away from his opponent. Looking up to where Brynja and the grey warden were standing, the grey warden was looking at him intently, appraising him almost. He turned back to Mainar, who was holding his now bloodied hand to his chest.

"Good fight" he said

"And you" Sigurd replied as the dwarf left the arena, cleaners coming in quickly to grab the man's weapons before the next opponent walked on. It was another man, a fellow axe wielder. The announcer called out the fighter's names, Adalbo gave the traditional pre-fight words and hefted his axe in front of him.

He swung out, shifting his full momentum into the swings. They were wide though and easy to step out of the way of. Sigurd jumped to the side dodging another attack, jamming the butt of the axe handle into hinge gap between the man's greaves and foot. He stumbled forward and Sigurd rammed the flat side of his axe hard into his face, he could hear an audible crack as the nose broke. Sigurd pulled his weapon back as Adalbo stumbled back, blood running down his face, his lips pulled back as he snarled menacingly. He let out a roar and charged, swinging his axe over his head with one hand. These were harder to get out of the way of, a hit got its mark hitting his hip.

Sigurd's lack of reaction to the hit seemingly snapped Adalbo out of his rage attack, years fighting for Beraht had given Sigurd a bit of a resistance to pain and an inch or so into his hip wasn't the worse injury he'd ever had. Letting go of his axe with one hand he punched Adalbo in the face, to his credit the dwarf didn't let go of his weapon; it did still sting having it ripped out of his flesh though. The dwarf tried swinging again but he moved clumsily as though dazed, Sigurd raised his axe catching the attack. He twisted forcing his opponents weapon and by extension him, towards the ground; he rammed his shoulder into Adalbo's side knocking the man down onto his back. Sigurd moved so he could hover his axe over the man's face while the announcer declared him the next winner. When the announcer finished speaking Sigurd reached down and helped pull the man back to his feet.

Adalbo left the arena to be replaced by a woman, it occurred to Sigurd it was slightly unfair that he was expected to keep fighting round after round.

"We've reached our third round. Everd versus Lenka, this is her last fight before her blooding to join the Silent Sisters so this'll be a fight to the death folks"

The woman wasted no time starting the fight, two swords drawn. She was much faster than the last two fighters, Sigurd barely moved in time to avoid having his gut sliced open. The swords moved so fast they were practically a blur, though the restriction on his vision caused by the helmet certainly didn't help matters. One of the slashes managed to cut into his hand almost deep enough to cut his fingers off but not quite, Sigurd swung his axe low aiming for her legs. As expected she jumped into the air, leaving her exposed for him to spin the axe around and jab the handle into her gut sending her backwards.

He quickly stepped towards her lifting his axe above his head aiming to bring it slamming straight back into the ground but the woman managed to roll out of the way just in time, jumping straight back to her feet. Lenka did a lunging strike, keeping low to the ground; he deflected the strike with the handle of his axe and when she was just past him Sigurd drove his elbow into the space between her shoulders. She dropped to her knees but swung her sword around cutting into the back of Sigurd's leg, again not the worst injury he'd ever sustained but in a fight against such a fast enemy it wasn't one to take lightly. In response Sigurd raised his good leg driving it down on Lenka's hard enough he heard the bone snap, this would've been when someone would scream but despite the pain clearly painting her face she made no sound.

Backing off a few steps Sigurd watched as the warrior forced herself to stand, somehow managing to support her weight even on a broken leg. Sigurd swung his axe towards her head, she ducked her legs almost giving way in the process. She tried attacking again but she stumbled giving Sigurd plenty of time to dodge, and with his free hand he back handed her, gravity shifted her to her bad leg and she instantly fell to the ground. For a brief moment, Sigurd looked up towards the grey warden and Brynja's seats, it didn't bring him any joy to kill someone but according to the rules Lenka wouldn't stop until one of them was dead. Even as he hesitated he could hear Lenka trying to get up, with a sigh he went to stand above her, and swung his axe cleaning cutting her head from her body. It slumped to the ground, blood pooling around the body spreading across the floor.

Cheers resounded throughout the arena, Sigurd was sure it could be heard all the way in dust town.

"Our running champion everyone, EVERD!" the announcer yelled over the roar of the crowd, Sigurd saw Brynja lean over and whisper something in the man's ear, he got the impression that she had just asked to face him in the final round. Before the announcer said anything more a gasp rang through the arenas the real Everd drunkenly stumbled into view.

"Dammit Leske, could you seriously not keep an eye on him" Sigurd muttered to himself, knowing that there was no way out of this. He hadn't left the arena since he first walked on, they would know they'd been facing an imposter this whole time. The crowd were exclaiming unintelligibly as the announcer and Mainar and probably others demanded he reveal his identity.

Calmly and carefully as guards moved to surround him, Sigurd placed his axe on the ground beside Lenka's body. He raised his arms and slid the helmet off his head, dropping it to the ground. Almost instantly boo's, yells of indignation and vile hatred was shouted down at Sigurd.

"See now, the casteless that has bested your proving. You think of us as nothing but dust but we are not beneath you! I submit only so you must acknowledge my existence instead of killing me now to be done with it" Sigurd proclaimed to the chagrin of every higher caste present, willing if begrudgingly allowing himself to be taken away by the guards.

Sometime later Sigurd woke to a pounding headache, in a prison cell that he recognised. Somewhere along the way to the nobles holding cells Beraht's men must've intercepted them and claimed Sigurd as their own prisoner. He sat up on the bloodstained stone floor, looking at the rusted bars, he knew one of them was a little looser than the others. He knew because he was the one that broke it in the first place when he was ordered to clean up after the last inmate died, so he was the only one who knew about it. There was shuffling in the cell next to him meaning he wasn't the only prisoner, meaning the only person it could be was.

"Leske" Sigurd said as a matter of factly.

"Ah you're awake, good. Now they can have us killed"

"You lost track of a drunk and unconscious dwarf" Sigurd grumbled pulling himself to his feet, wincing at the pain in his hip. It needed bandaging sooner rather than later though Sigurd got the impression that Beraht wouldn't be so inclined to provide.

"You're blaming me for this? It was your idea"

"My job was to win the fights. And I did. Did you have a better idea?"

"No. Still how in the stone are we going to get out of this? The proving was discounted, Beraht lost a lot of gold on this screw up"

"You won't like it"

"Try me"

"Get out the cell and kill Beraht"

"Shit they did a number on that skull of yours, how do you plan on doing that? We have no weapons" near the prison door entrance Sigurd could see his armour and axe against the wall, almost as though they put them there just to taught him; their mistake.

"Better to die trying then wait until they decide when I die. Hey, hey guard!" Sigurd shouted, sure enough one of Beraht's men waddled into the room.

"What's going on, what's with all the noise?" he demanded, at that Sigurd reached forward and yanked the metal bar off the cell wall.

"Give me the key to the cell" without hesitation the man grabbed the keys off his belt and passed then to Sigurd. "Now get out. And don't even think of warning Beraht" Sigurd warned, he waited until the man left and then a few minutes more to check for an alarm but it didn't sound. He unlocked the cell door, handed the key over to Leske and quickly threw on his armour. The cell clicked and he listened as Leske looked around for a weapon that he could use.

Scouting ahead, Leske quietly walking behind him, he could hear thugs patrolling the halls. Easy enough to avoid, and with Leske's bad knee and Sigurd's own untreated injuries it was probably the best course of action in this circumstance; especially if they wanted a decent attempt at taking down Beraht himself. It was slow progress, the strain of keeping so low to the ground while sneaking around the base was starting to hurt his leg. Blood had started seeping down the back of his leg from where Lenka had cut him as the wound must have reopened. They continued progressing through the base until they came to a door at the end of the hallway. Through which they could hear Beraht's voice as he was talking to two of his men, about Rica. At the mention of her name Sigurd felt his blood boil but he forced himself to remain calm.

"Hey I've no use for her with her brother dead, feel free to have her if you want" Beraht said, causing the men to laughing in a creepy fashion that sent shivers down Sigurd's spine. He threw the door open, abandoning all subtlety as he and Leske walked into the room.

"You really think I'm going to let you bastards touch my sister?! We're not your property to discard Beraht, and you're not leaving here alive"

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you, come on men!" behind him, he heard Leske shut and lock the door as Beraht and his men drew their swords. The first charged, Sigurd stuck his axe handle low side stepping, letting the man trip going head first into the wall.

Stepping forward Sigurd blocked a side strike from the second, behind him he heard Leske attacking the first man so he focused on the one in front of him. He jumped back, ignoring the now flaring pain in his leg, the second man stumbled forward leaving him open to a low strike as the axe was swung into the gap by his ankle. It severed his tendon rendering the foot useless. Sigurd felt a pang of guilt for this considering his opponent looked younger than him but the man appeared to have no such qualms as before he could react Sigurd found a sword being driven through his left shoulder forcing him to drop his grip on the axe at least with that hand. He let out a groan of pain, before swinging his left arm around wrapping it around the young dwarf's neck as he had moved into arm range with that move. The man feebly battered at his arm but was too close to even use his sword, Sigurd squeeze and harshly jolted his arm breaking the man's neck. The body dropped, landing next to the one Leske killed.

Sigurd turned to face his former employer, and for the first time he saw fear in the man's eyes. For so long Sigurd had underplayed his skills, had let Beraht believe that he was no more skilled than the rest of his thugs knowing that Beraht would have him eliminated if he even suspected Sigurd was a risk to himself. He'd been saving this secret for a day such as this when he'd be forced to eliminate the carta boss.

"I've been working for you for ten years, come back from battles and injuries that would kill others and won a proving against the warrior caste. Did you really believe you could just get rid of me? Or that I'd ever let you bring harm to my sister?" Sigurd said, slowly walking towards Beraht.

"Look, Sigurd, I underestimated you. You're too valuable to just cut loose, so how about a deal?" Beraht started saying but Sigurd kept walking "How about I forgive your families debt? Give you a share in my shop business?" Sigurd was nearly right in front of him "I'll make you second in command, you're a much better fighter than Jarvia. You'd never have to worry about going hungry, I'll leave your sister alone" Sigurd was standing right in front of him now "Oh sod it" Beraht breathed out going for his sword but too late. As Sigurd lifted his axe with one hand and cut Beraht's head in half on a vertical axis. The axe pulled out with a horribly squelching sound as it dripped with blood and brain matter, Beraht to his stubbornness stayed standing for a few seconds before crumpling limply to the ground. Behind him Leske threw up, at least he kept it in until after they finished. Sigurd himself was starting to feel light headed though he put that down to blood loss, he stumbled onwards towards the door at the other end of the room. When he almost collapsed Leske grabbed his arm bringing it over his shoulder, helping supporting his weight.

"I got you. Remind me never to cross you" Leske mumbled as they limped out, the shopkeeper of Beraht's shop passed out when he saw them leading no resistance as they left the building.

The second they stepped out though the announcer of the proving accompanied by armed guards surrounded the entrance to the shop. Letting out a sigh Sigurd prepared to give himself up when he spotted the grey warden also approaching.

"Sigurd Brosca you are under arrest for impersonating a higher class, touching a smith caste weapon and armour, defiling the provings" he started listing reasons for Sigurd's imprisonment and probably death.

"Sir if I may. I came to Orzammar to find someone I believed worthy of being recruited into the ranks of grey warden. In this dwarf, I have seen a level of skill, intelligence, honour and raw power that doesn't come by often" was this man about to ask him to join the grey wardens? Sigurd wondered.

"But this man is a criminal, we can't just let him go unpunished!"

"As a grey warden it is my right to recruit whoever I deem worthy regardless of their history, and I have chosen to recruit this dwarf if he accepts" all eyes turned to Sigurd, he looked around at all the faces that wanted to see him punished, the face of his friend that he would be leaving and thought of his sister who either way would be left alone.

"I accept your offer" Sigurd said, taking the chance that if he was a grey warden he could at least make sure his sister would be alright. Then as if summoned by magic Rica came running through the market square, eyes darting in every direction looking for him.

"It's settled then, this dwarf will become a grey warden and is now under my protection"

"Fine. As is your right grey warden" the announcer gritted through his teeth, as he gestured for the guards to disperse. "Just have him gone as soon as possible" they left the area.

"Sigurd!" Rica exclaimed running over to her brother throwing her arms over him, he winced at the pain it caused but hugged her back just as tightly. "You're hurt" she said when she backed up and noticed the blood.

"Nothing serious, just need some bandages" Sigurd said reassuringly.

"We have one in my ranks that can tend to your wounds, but we'll need to get moving in a few days we don't have much time to get everything ready" the grey warden informed them

"Rica I'm sorry I have to leave, Leske. Promise me you'll protect my sister" he said insistently

"Don't worry about me little brother, the noble I told you about. He's moving me into a house out of Dust Town, can you believe it? He's a good man, he'll keep me safe" Rica told him but he still wanted the extra insurance as he stared intently at Leske.

"Yeah you got it, I'll make sure no one touches her" he promised, as he eased Sigurd's arm off his shoulder letting the man stand by himself.

"I'll return when I'm able and write when I can. I promise you I'll always be here for you Rica, and you Leske. Don't get into any trouble" Sigurd said giving his sister one last hug, he turned to the grey warden and nodded, saying he was ready to leave. The grey warden started walking in the directing of the deep roads entrance, Sigurd gave one last look to his family, smiled and limped after the grey warden.

"Sigurd Brosca by the way" he eventually said

"Duncan of the Grey Wardens"

"Surprised you weren't more interested in the princess, here she's a legend with a blade"

"Maybe in another life Sigurd, now let's get your wounds tended to"


	2. Chapter 2 Brynja Aeducan

Brynja: A curvy toned dwarf, with a round pleasing face short hazel hair cut in a neat bob. With calm grey eyes and small facial tattoos she carries herself with confidence but also a humbleness that is not seen with her brothers.

It was another pleasant morning in Orzammar, the only differences were there was a feast being held in Brynja's honour and the discounted proving from a few days ago, had been scheduled for today. One other thing, unlike most mornings found herself waking up still in the arms of her lover and second, who must have woken up before her as he was absentmindedly playing with her hair. They weren't usually so risky but Brynja reasoned that they must just have been so tired that they fell straight into a deep sleep. Brynja let out a huge yawn as she rolled around stretching sleep out of her limbs.

"Good morning commander" Gorim greeted sounding wide awake

"Hey you" Brynja said with a smile, leaning down to give him a kiss "We should get dressed before one of my brothers comes in wondering where we are" she joked, getting out of bed and getting dressed in her house Aeducan armour. She heard Gorim doing the same with his own clothing and armour, they had been together for two years now but no closer being able to official be together. Dwarven law dictated Brynja only marry her own caste or higher, and there was nothing higher than a noble; Gorim was warrior caste. She knew being with him in such a manner posed a political risk if she fell pregnant and birthed a son, she would be forced down to warrior caste. Though to be honest she didn't mind that possibility even though everyone else was set against it. When they finished dressing Gorim approached her holding a sword and shield.

"My lady" he said simply, helping her fasten the sword to her belt and the shield to her back.

"You shouldn't have, I didn't get you anything on this joyous day" Brynja remarked

"Today is your day, your first military order"

"You are as much a part of me as I am of you, my dear. My special day is yours too and I want to share it with you" Brynja said reaching out to hold her partner's hands in hers. He leaned his head forward resting it against hers. With a final sigh the two separated and left Brynja's room together, at least as her second the other residents and servants didn't find it too unusual to see the pair together even first thing in the morning.

It wasn't yet time for Brynja to present herself at the feast so she decided to use her time to visit market, and attend the proving. She handed decided if she wanted to fight in the proving or not, the last proving they threw she had seen a dwarf that she wanted to challenge but they turned out to be an imposter and was promptly arrested. Much to Brynja's annoyance. Personally, she didn't see the problem with letting the casteless fight, they were skilled if less refined but that was just down to professional training. Besides, if they weren't so regimented in caste's then women wouldn't feel like they had to give themselves over to whatever noble was willing in the hopes they'd become pregnant with a son. Like the woman, Rica, who Brynja new to be one of these noble hunters that had been taken up by Bhelen. Lovely girl, a little shy took a bit of time to get her to start talking, spoke positively of her little brother though.

Regardless Brynja was in no position to change the rules of Orzammar yet. So she marched through the palace, into the merchants quarter. Ahead Brynja spotted her brothers. Bhelen wasn't that much younger than she was, as far as she could tell he thought little of the caste system, from conversations she'd had with him about it she believed if he was in a position of power he'd reform the entire caste system. Certainly she believed he had developed genuine feelings for Rica, and he expressed sympathy for the fact she wasn't allowed to have a public relationship with Gorim. Trian on the other hand, they'd never had a good relationship. He had an anger in him and the cause of it Brynja had never been able to figure out. Her older brother was next in line to become king when their father passed, what with being the eldest and a son; even though the Assembly didn't say anything against a female ruler it still seemed to be a bit of a preference those representatives were very against change in Brynja's opinion. Supposedly Trian didn't hold much favour with the Assembly, not surprising with his abrasive nature and lack of tact in some situations. She contemplated doubling back to avoid them, as she was enjoying having the day with Gorim but figured it was inevitable that she'd have to speak to them at some point today.

The pair walked over to her brothers, the two looked to be in heated discussion but Bhelen managed a friendly smile as Brynja approached Trian however looked even more angry with Brynja.

"Hello sister, nice to see you visiting the common folk on your special day" Bhelen greeted warmly

"Yes especially since duty dictates your meant to be at the feast father is holding in your honour. Is your disrespect that high?" Trian snapped, coming up to Brynja's face.

"Lord Harrowmont told us we wouldn't be needed for a few hours" Gorim said trying to stand between Brynja and her brother.

"Silence. If I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it"

"Yes, your highness"

"I will never understand your hatred of me and that's fine. But I will not have you speak to my second that way" Brynja snapped back at her brother

"Yes, I know all about your care for your second. And frankly it's an insult to your family that you persist with this "relationship" in this knowing you cannot marry into a lower class" he at least lowered his voice as he spoke but the harshness in his tone didn't lessen.

"I am your sister Trian and I at least deserve your respect and not to have you accusing me of not caring about my family or our fathers wishes because family is important to me. Now unless then next thing out of your mouth is an apology then I'd like to go visit the proving, I will return to the feast afterwards when father asked me to show up" Brynja glared at her brother, his lips curled in anger and disgust but he turned his head away unable to maintain eye contact with her.

"You would do well to remember who your next king is, father won't live forever" Trian warned as he went to move past Brynja

"I do love you, brother. Even if we don't get along I hope you remember that" Brynja said but her brother didn't reply as he, and Bhelen walked away back in the direction of the palace. Just looking at him Brynja could tell Gorim wanted to wrap his arms around her but knew better than to do so when they were in public. There were enough rumours going on about them already.

"Come on. Let's go watch the provings, we should at least try to enjoy ourselves while we can" Brynja said, making a beeline in the direction to the proving arena. She was briefly stopped by a group of guardsmen, ordered to accompany her to the proving.

Despite the events at the last proving the arena was still booming and stocked with people eager to be entertained by combat. They were seated in a sectioned off area, for safety reasons obviously, giving them an unobstructed view of the arena. Despite the enthusiastic cheer of the crowds around her Brynja was finding it difficult to enjoy herself, the argument with her brother had dragged her mood down considerably. Her second had taken a seat beside her, sitting his hand on the seat just close enough that she could feel it against her thigh.

The fight announcer had come up to talk to her but she had decided not to take part in the proving, her heart just wasn't in it, and it would be unfair to the other fighters to fight in her current state of mind.

It wasn't the same fighters competing as the last proving, they were quite skilled as well so at least the fights were proving very entertaining. The fights had been named to be in her honour, for her first military command as a commander. It didn't feel like the greatest honour though, though maybe that was just due to her lack of interest in regular combat.

Frankly Brynja wasn't sure why they were making such a big deal of this event, they hadn't dedicated a proving on the day of her older brother's first military order. He was the future king of Orzammar so it should have been a much larger event, even if Brynja was more popular with the people. She had no interest in ruling Orzammar, really the only incentive Brynja would ever have to taking the throne would be to allow her a marriage to Gorim. And a ruler shouldn't take up the mantle for such a purely selfish reason. In the unlikely circumstance the Assembly tried to make her queen she would simply abdicate.

Before she knew it, they had reached the final fight of the proving. The match was between Frandlin Ivo and Ser Blackstone, Blackstone was a veteran of the Deep Roads while Frandlin was a warrior caste of the house Ivo a small house but nobles none the less and personable if Brynja remembered rightly. This battle lasted much longer than the last rounds, the two being much more evenly matched, but the battle ended in Frandlin's favour as he won and was proclaimed the champion of the day's proving. Brynja stood up applauding with the rest of the crowds, she stepped forward to the ledge of her booth and raised her hand signalling for everyone to quieten down which they did.

"Thank you, everyone for coming to today's proving held today to celebrate my first order as the newest commander. Your presence here is as much an honour as the proving itself. Now congratulations are in order, in front of all those gathered here I present to you your newest champion. Frandlin Ivo of House Ivo!" she shouted to the once again cheering audience, Frandlin looked up at her and bowed respectfully as he left the arena. Turning to the guards that had accompanied her signalling that she was ready to return to the palace.

By this time Brynja was sure her father would be wanting her to show face at the feast so on arriving back she headed straight there. The tables were lined with delicious food, some of the guests were sitting eating while others were standing off to the side talking with one another. At the top of the room was King Endrin, Brynja's father, talking with the grey warden Duncan. They were due an expedition to the Deep Roads the next day and so the grey warden with his troop had lingered since the last proving to accompany them. Brynja took in a deep breath as she started forward towards her father, when he noticed her he signalled for then end of discussion with both Duncan and the lords gathered around him.

"Ah my daughter, it is good to see you. Thank you for giving us a reprieve from our debates, are you enjoying your day?" he asked, smiling. His age was starting to show more prominently nowadays, the assembly were getting worried that his time was waning.

"It has been a lovely day so far, father. Frandlin Ivo won the proving" Brynja told him, it looked like her father wanted to ask if she was alright but in the presence of the other nobles if would've been deemed inappropriate.

"Are you ready to be presented to the nobles my child?" he asked gently, when Brynja nodded he stood up off the throne "Everyone I bid a moment of your time, today I present my second eldest and only daughter Brynja. Blessed by the stone with the blood of Aeducan running through her veins. I give you Orzammar's next commander!" at that the nobles assembled let out a cheer "Tomorrow she shall lead part of a mission into the Deep Roads, to reclaim some of our mines and aid our guest Duncan of the grey wardens and his men in striking a deep blow against the darkspawn horde. But tonight, we feast!" Endrin proclaimed proudly as nobles raised their mugs and began eating and speaking fervently.

Taking a seat at the table Brynja started eating the delicious food displayed before her, Gorim had taken a seat to her left when Duncan came over and sat opposite her.

"So, we'll be venturing in the Deep Roads but how long are you planning on staying for?" Brynja asked trying to make conversation, they'd spoken before when Duncan first arrived.

"We will be venturing the Deep Roads for maybe a day perhaps two before we continue on our way, it would be good to use this opportunity to see our newest recruit in the field" Brynja shrugged her shoulders and made a hmm noise, she looked around the room and noticed that neither of her brothers were present. Perhaps Bhelen was with Rica, or more likely still being ordered by Trian to spend the day following him around. She looked up to her father noticing he was looking around the room in the same slightly confused and concerned expression before his eyes settled on her, he made a slight gesture with his head asking her to go find out where her brothers were. Politely bidding Duncan a good evening Brynja left the throne room with Gorim in tow. She couldn't help but notice that her second had started acting a bit nervous, or lost in thought for some reason.

At this time of day Brynja assumed Trian would've retired to his room, her theory was proven correct as she heard the voices of her brothers coming from Trian's room as she approached. As she pushed open the door Trian stopped talking turning to glare at her.

"Still not at the feast then?" he asked

"I just came from there, father was wondering where you are"

"Probably wants to discuss strategy for tomorrow. Very well. Bhelen wait here, pet our sister's ego as she demands" Trian grumbled as he stormed out of the room.

"Least the one good thing about him not liking you? Not being forced to spend the day with him, he's not the easiest man to get along with" Bhelen complained with a sigh.

"I'm sorry you have to put up with him, I hope you can still enjoy what little is left of today" Brynja said, Bhelen's face took on an odd expression he looked at the door briefly then motioned for Brynja to come closer.

"It pains me to tell you this sister but Trian moves to have you removed" Bhelen said in a hushed tone.

"What? Why?" Brynja tried to ask quietly but she struggled to keep the panic from her voice

"It's not uncommon for the assembly to vote for someone other than the kings choice or even the eldest child. You are much more popular with the assembly and the people than Trian ever was or could be. He heard of your little speech at the proving and knows he can't gain the love of the other castes the way you can, he sees you as the only major threat he has to securing the throne when father dies"

"But I don't want the throne, I've never expressed an interest in taking the throne"

"Except that if you became queen it would mean being able to change laws, such as ones forbidding you to wed the man of your choice. That alone is enough to convince Trian that you'd actually consider claiming the throne for yourself"

"How do you know this?" Gorim asked

"I overheard him speaking to someone about how he needs a permanent solution to the risk you pose to his ascension to the throne" Bhelen explained.

"No, Trian may not like me I don't believe he'd go so far as to kill me. I'm not going to do anything unless he actually tries to harm me or I have proof of his intent"

"Very well sister I'll respect your wishes but please, be careful I'd rather not lose the sibling I actually like" with that Brynja quickly left Trian's room all but running back to hers.

When she reached her room Brynja started pulling off her armour, suddenly finding the metal too heavy too constricting as she struggled to breath. The door closed behind her and she felt Gorim come up behind her and start helping her remove her armour pieces. He gently guided her over to her bed urging her to sit down while he tidied away her armour and brought over her nightdress, helping her change into it. When he was done, he sat down on the edge of the bed beside her.

"Would my own brother really have me killed? Could he really hate me so?" she asked quietly leaning against Gorim.

"He is not the best of men, certainly I doubt he'd make a good king but whether he'd kill you. Well he can certainly try and I'll gladly strike him down where he stood" Gorim said boldly

"You'd get in trouble for saying such things" Brynja pointed out, even through the smile on her face.

"As long as I breath I promise to do everything in my power to keep you safe, I am your second and lover and I intend to stay by your side from this day until the stone claims us"

"Why Gorim dear, that almost sounds like a proposal" Brynja joked

"It was meant to" Gorim said simply, sliding off the bed so he was kneeling before her. He took something from his belt extending out his hand, offering Brynja a simple silver ring. "I know the law forbids our union but things won't always be that way. And when that day comes I want you to be my wife, so that we can live our lives together without having to hide for the sake of face and scandal. What do you say?" he asked earnestly, Brynja felt tears form in her eyes as a wide joyous smile covered her face.

"I say, I love you Gorim and of course the answers yes" he instantly leapt up, kissing her passionately before picking her up and spinning her around the room. When he sat her back down he too had a gigantic smile on his face as he took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I love you Brynja, I would wait an eternity if it meant being with you"

"Sleep here tonight, please?" Brynja asked, already moving to help Gorim remove his armour

"As you wish, my lady" he said lifting her up and carrying her back to the bed, and for a rare second night in a row Brynja fell asleep in the arms of the man she loved.

Early the next day Brynja along with her family and some scouts and guardsman ventured into the Deep Roads, where they rendezvoused with the group of grey wardens. She recognised one of them, the dwarf that had pretended to be Everd at the last proving and won. She had heard he'd been recruited into the grey warden's after killing the leader of the carta. When they walked over his head perked up, his face lit up with recognition from when they two had meet before the proving started.

"I remember you" Brynja said once they were in earshot.

"Good to see you again Brynja. Now seems a good time to properly introduce myself, names Sigurd Brosca" he introduced himself

"Brosca? Do you have a sister?"

"Rica, yes. You've met her?"

"Yeah, actually. She's nice" Sigurd had a confused expression on his face, he slowly looked over then men in Brynja's company. He looked at Gorim shaking his head, Trian had the same reaction but when he looked at Bhelen he got a more annoyed look on his face.

"Right, that's how you met her" he mumbled. An awkward silence followed as half those gathered didn't understand the implications of the conversation while the other half were fully aware of what was going on. The silence was broken by Harrowmont coughing, bringing everyone's attention to him as he stood before them. With King Endrin at his side in full armour, Brynja noticed that her father wasn't standing as tall as he used to in his armour like he didn't have the strength to support it as well as he used to.

"Trian and his men will go on ahead with the grey wardens to clear them a way into the eastern caverns. Bhelen you are acting as your father's second so ready your men" Harrowmont instructed everyone, Trian nodded and left with his men and the wardens in tow while Bhelen made a disgruntled noise as he went to speak to his men. Her father waved his hand beckoning her to approach them.

"I have a special mission for you, there's a secret door leading to an abandoned thaig that we believe holds the resting place of Paragon Aeducan shield. Venture forth and reclaim that shield and the glory shall be yours" her father explained calmly, admittedly not the first mission Brynja thought she'd be leading; she'd figured she'd be doing something similar to Trian and Bhelen in trying to clear out darkspawn out the caverns and aiding the wardens. She couldn't tell whether she was relived or disappointed.

"Who will be accompanying us?" she asked

"We've sent two scouts ahead of you, you should meet them not too far down the way" Harrowmont filled in. Brynja nodded to the two of them, as she stepped away from her father beginning the walk towards the eastern section Gorim following closely behind.

True to Harrowmont's words it didn't take long for them to find the two forward scouts, she didn't recognise one of them but the other she recognised as Frandlin Ivo the champion from yesterday's proving. When they saw her they straightened up to bow formally as she approached them.

"Frandlin Ivo, I remember you from the proving. You fought well" Brynja greeted him,

"Thank you, my lady, your words do me a great honour" Frandlin said, bowing again though Brynja could swear there was something off about his voice perhaps he felt embarrassed so she thought better than to say anything more on the subject. "Most of the paths here lead to dead ends, the path we want's crawling with darkspawn so be ready for a fight" he warned. Everyone in the group took a moment to draw their weapons so they would be ready for any darkspawn that crossed their path.

As they ventured through the tunnels they were found unsettlingly devoid of darkspawn, Brynja kept looking around for an impending ambush but nothing came out of the darkness. Even having passed the hidden door into the thaig supposedly abandoned due to a darkspawn infestation they didn't pass any. Until they rounded one corner. The ground was covered with the bodies of dead darkspawn, their blood was pooling around them. When Brynja went over the bodies to move them she noticed they still felt warm, and their bodies hadn't locked up as they should have if they had been dead for some time. Meaning whoever killed them had passed through recently, and could be up ahead since they hadn't passed them yet. A cold feeling built in Brynja's gut, Trian, Bhelen, their father all those who had the ring into this area were elsewhere; so who could've gotten in?

She signalled for her followers to take things slow as they continued on ahead, whoever killed these darkspawn could be a danger to them and she didn't want to risk their lives by rushing ahead when they had no idea what they were dealing with. Deeper into the caverns she could hear voices, at least half a dozen men they were complaining about how long this was taking. The rounded the corner coming face to face with a small group of mercenaries.

"Well, well. Glad to see you haven't been devoured by darkspawn" the suspected leader said sarcastically.

"You did a good job clearing out the darkspawn leading to here. Who are you and how did you get in here?" Brynja demanded

"What does it matter? I'm the one who's going to find the shield and kill you. If you're nice and tell us how to find it, I'll make your death quick" the dwarf said with a sadistic smile.

"I'd rather not die so I guess this means we'll have to fight"

"I guess so" he said as he and all his men drew their weapons and charged.

Frandlin charged to meet the two swordsmen on the left, the scout drew his bow and started firing at the mercenary's archer near the back, Gorim went for the two to the right leaving Brynja with the leader. Raising her shield the dwarf bashed into it, forcing Brynja back several steps before managing to root herself properly to shove him away; she swung her sword upwards catching his front enough to cut the material but not the man himself.

He went in for another lunge, Brynja side stepped hitting in the side of the head with her shield and stabbing him in the leg when he stumbled back in shock. There was a loud thud as one of the men collapsed dead, the leader let out an angry noise as he glared at Brynja. A clash of metal sounded as she blocked his blade with hers, he was stronger than her she had to admit but Brynja wasn't above less than noble techniques to win as she kicked the man's shin hard knocking his leg out from under him. He let out a gasp as he fell to one knee his arm being forced behind his head from the sudden movement. With a twist of the wrist Brynja cut her sword deep into his wrist, he let out a scream as the separation of the nerves forced him to let go of his sword. She gently placed her sword at the man's neck. By this point the rest of his men were dead leaving him at their mercy and he knew that as he made no attempt to run or attack.

"How did you get in?" Brynja demanded

"With a signet ring, your brother gave it to us. Told us to find and bring him the shield and deal with you if we had to" he stammered

"Give me a name. I have two brothers"

"Trian. It was Trian, there you got what you wanted now what? You going to kill me?" Brynja looked up at Gorim who nodded understanding the instruction, he readied his axe and cut the man's head off. Cleaning off the blood from her sword Brynja directed her comrades to move forward, before she followed though she searched through the merc leader's things sure enough finding an Aeducan signet ring among his possessions. In her chest Brynja felt her heart break at the feeling of her brother betraying her in such a way, but she pushed the feeling aside as she still had a mission to complete and a shield to find.

After some time of searching they finally found the room believed to hold the Aeducan shield, there was a stone box in the middle of a floor covered in square panels. The box had a keyhole that was the perfect shape for the family signet ring but nothing happened when Brynja put the ring in the keyhole. Frustrated she kicked the box only succeeding in hurting her foot, she was about to ask Gorim if he could try breaking it open with his axe but as she did she stepped on one of the panels and heard a click. She let out a sigh of frustration at the additional security measures to keeping the box closed as she waited for Gorim, Frandlin and the scout to walk around the floor until each had stepped on a platform that made a click. This time when she tried the keyhole the box licked cracked open, inside was a shield baring the emblem for house Aeducan; if this wasn't the shield her father sent her to find she wasn't sure what else she could have been looking for.

Moving quickly, they back tracked through the caverns towards where Brynja expected to find Trian and his men, admittedly not the family member she wanted to see right now but he would be the easiest to find and it would give her a chance to question him about the mercenaries he let into the thaig. All of a sudden a feeling of wrongness came over Brynja, the caverns were far too silent something was very wrong. With a rush of adrenaline Brynja started sprinting the rest of the way, her surprised comrades taking a few seconds to realise what she was doing.

The sight that followed made Brynja go numb, on the ground was Trian and his men. All dead. There was no sign or smell of darkspawn, this wasn't there doing. Brynja ran to her brothers corpse, grabbing his shoulders shaking him as though that would shake life back into his limp body. She could feel herself starting to cry and hyperventilate, she was aware of Gorim coming up behind her holding her shoulders. She was also aware of footsteps approaching.

"Hurry father before it's too late" came the voice of Bhelen before all he had gathered stopped short of them. Looking up to the face of her confused and heartbroken father, she could only imagine what must have been going through his head.

"He was right" one of the nobles murmured.

"Brynja, please, tell me this isn't what it looks like" her father said in a broken voice falling to his knees beside his son.

"We just got here, they were already dead, I don't know what happened" Brynja said trying to hold back tears, at her core she loved her brother, she would never have wished for something like this to befall him.

"It's true, my lady didn't do this since that's clearly what you're all thinking" Gorim stated in barely suppressed rage

"Gorim, as Brynja's second your statement is biased and can't be trusted. Scout, tell us what happened here" Harrowmont ordered the dwarf

"Trian got here early my lord, my lady approached him being friendly enough then ordered us to kill him and his men" he lied almost effortlessly. Everything suddenly clicked in Brynja's head, Trian was never a threat to her, Bhelen was.

"How much did he pay you?" Brynja asked coldly

"Frandlin, you're a noble. Is the scout speaking the truth?" Harrowmont asked

"Yes. He speaks the truth" he said reluctantly, Brynja collapsed as the words hit her. There wasn't a way out of this that she could see. She turned to her father as the guards moved to drag her to her feet to arrest her.

"Believe me father, I did not do this" she pleaded desperately as she was led away. "Please believe me I didn't kill my brother" she kept calling out until her voice gave out.

They took her armour, her sword and shield. She didn't have much in the way of jewellery other than the ring Gorim gave her but thankfully they let her keep that, or anything in her hair but she guessed they would have taken those too. They were nice enough to give her simple clothes to wear, if no shoes to speak of but it was better than nothing. With Gorim's word discredited due to his loyalty it was only Brynja's word against two, plus Bhelen's own testimony the assembly wouldn't call for anything less than Brynja's death and unless her father was willing to risk losing the throne for her sake there was nothing to be done. She heard someone walking through the prison towards her cell, maybe Harrowmont to deliver her sentence. Turning her head though she saw Gorim, no longer in armour but he too wearing simple merchants' clothes, he was to be exiled.

She stood up to lean against the bars of her cell, reaching through the gap to hold her seconds hand. The face of the man she loved was slightly red and puffy, it pained her to know he had been driven to tears about their fate.

"They've come to a decision, I'm to have my caste and title striped and exiled to the surface, Harrowmont tried to get the same for you but Bhelen and the assembly refused. You're also to be striped of your caste and title, your name removed from records and sent into the Deep Roads without armour or weapons until your death" he told her

"Thus getting rid of anyone that would stop Bhelen from becoming king, and giving him the favour of the assembly for revealing a kinslayer" Brynja concluded, mentally chastising herself for not even thinking Bhelen the brother who actually seemed to like her would want to get rid of her.

"You could find Duncan; the wardens should still be in the Deep Roads they won't have left yet"

"As long as there's a chance, I'll live" with her free hand she grabbed the back of Gorim's head pulling him in for a hard kiss "Wait for me on the surface? I swear I will return to you"

"I'll wait for you, I'll be in Denerim" Gorim said, out of sight they heard someone yelling at Gorim saying that time was up and he needed to leave. "I love you" he said giving her one last kiss

"I love you too" she watched as he left, to be replaced with Harrowmont accompanied with two guards.

They took her out of the cell, leading her to one of the doors that led into the Deep Roads. Brynja looked around both hoping and dreading to see her father but the closer to the door they got the clearer it was that he wasn't going to show up to see her to her possible death. When they reached the door Harrowmont hesitated to open it.

"You have been found guilty of murdering Trian Aeducan, by order of the assembly your name is to be stripped from the records and you are to be sent into exile into the Deep Roads to fight darkspawn until your death. Your father would have given you these himself but the grief of losing two of his children has left him ill" Harrowmont said remorsefully, handing Brynja a sword and shield "For your father's sake, please look me in the eye and tell me you didn't do this"

"I didn't kill my brother, Bhelen planned this from the start so he could assume power" Brynja told him, not breaking eye contact the whole time.

"I believe you, and believe me I will do everything I can to make sure Bhelen does not go unchallenged. We chose this tunnel to send you to because Duncan and the other grey wardens are still in this area, all you need to do is survive long enough to find them and they will help you escape the Deep Roads" he told her, turning to unlock the door into the Deep Roads.

Taking one last look back towards the only home Brynja had every known she stepped through the doorway. Flinching as the heavy door slammed shut, the sound echoing of the walls of the tunnel. She took a big breath and took off running through the tunnel, the stone hurt her feet and it wasn't long before she felt the balls of her feet bleeding from the jagged edges but she ignored it; it was a bigger priority to find the wardens before they left. Then in the distance she heard voices ahead and shadows of men on the tunnel walls. She was about to call out when she heard a strange noise beside her and suddenly her sword arm was burning as poisonous spider gunk had been spat at her.

A giant spider lunged at her and Brynja barely managed to raise her shield in time before it landed right on top of her pinning her on her back. She pushed her shield up with all her might just keeping the spider far enough away that it couldn't get its mandible claws into her face. She let out a scream calling for help, praying that someone would hear her. Froth started forming around the spiders' mouth, it was preparing to dump more poison on her.

An axe appeared above Brynja, she closed her eyes as it came down and the spider dropped as dead weight. She opened her eyes to see Sigurd standing above her, he shoved the now bisected spider corpse of her and offered her a hand up which she took. The rest of the wardens and Duncan were approaching now. Calmly Sigurd picked up and handed Brynja her sword that she had been forced to drop to hold the spider back. He reached forward and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze and that was enough to make her let out all the pain she had been holding and cry, almost instantly then her fellow dwarf pulled her in for a hug. Holding her steadily until she managed to compose herself again.

"My lady Aeducan, what are you doing here without your troops?" Duncan asked when she had calmed down

"I've been framed for my brothers murder and exiled to walk the Deep Roads until I die" Brynja explained

"Bhelen or Trian?" Sigurd asked having now let go of her but stayed standing at her side rather than moving back towards the wardens.

"Bhelen wanted the both of us out of the way so he could get the throne" Brynja further explained "Harrowmont told me I could find you here and you could help me get out of here with my life"

"We are meant to be leaving today, we could get you to the surface" Sigurd said encouragingly,

"We could do with someone of your skills in our ranks, we will help you reach the surface if in return you join the grey wardens" Duncan proposed, the statement struck Brynja as wrong if she refused would they just leave her there? However, everything considered Brynja knew she didn't have a choice here, she'd never get out of the Deep Roads by herself.

"Very well" she said, Duncan nodded and signalled for the rest of his men to move out.

"Welcome to the wardens, I'm sorry about what happened" Sigurd said, giving Brynja a nudge to get her moving along beside him after the others.

"Me too, Sigurd" she said as she started on the path of what would be her new life.


	3. Chapter 3 Cadfael Amell and Dinah Surana

Cadfael: The eldest son of Revka Amell, Cadfael has the strong features, dark hair and eyes common in his family with well maintained hair and beard. Compared to the other mages he is taller and more toned due to his use of weapons as a magical conduit. Despite his more stern disposition Cadfael is not one to suffer others lightly.

Dinah: A young elven mage with short white hair and bright green eyes, noted as slighter than other elves but much faster. She has a young, friendly face that makes it easy for children to trust her and heed her stories and lessons, with an aura of naivety that hides a strong amount of empathy and understanding of others.

While the Templars forbade the residents from venturing outside, the tower windows did still hold magnificent views of Lake Calenhad and the country side beyond. Right now the night skies were completely clear, and the starts shining brightly enough to reflect off the surface of the water. The Templars would kick up a fuss if they knew Cadfael was at the library windows instead of his room, as it was the middle of the night, but he had business this night. His ward, Dinah the young elf he had taken upon himself to care for, was due to face her Harrowing this night and he wanted to wish her luck. Not that he doubted the Rotten Girls skills as a mage, in fact according to Irving she was among those marked with the greatest amount of potential for magic. Though less powerful than Cadfael himself who's skills placed him the highest, not that he was one to brag it was more an observation on how the Templars treated him. Always tensing when he was present, eyes focusing on him as though they were regarding him as the greatest risk to their safety.

There, Cadfael heard the prominent footsteps of a couple Templar guards and the quiet patter of Dinah's faster paced steps. They were about level with the first of the two doors to the library, based on how paranoid the Templars were and where Cadfael was standing he knew they'd spot him.

"You, mage! What are you doing out after curfew?" one of them demanded right on cue

"Stargazing, and I am an enchanter. You are aware of that" he replied, tilting his head to look over his shoulder at the man. It was one of the senior level Templars, with him was one of the few Templars he bothered to remember the name of. "Evening Cullen, I trust you're taking care of our Dinah here" he knew of the man's affections for the young elf, as did Dinah herself truth be told which she didn't mind as she was quite smitten with the man herself. A few times Cadfael had caught Cullen shirking his duties to play chess with the Rotten Girl, he made an effort to keep an eye on them in case their friendship started branching to far.

"I, um" Cullen stuttered, from behind him Dinah stepped out into the library. The poor girls short white hair was in complete disarray from being roused in the middle of the night, her green eyes still shone bright though lighting up on seeing her friend. She was still in her nightdress, holding her bear Reginald tight to her chest and for a moment Cadfael saw the scared little three-year-old that arrived fourteen years ago. Cadfael had been eleven years old than, and he could still remember her wide she smiled when it clicked that he was going to help look after her.

"Cadfael!" she said positively beaming, she ran over and jumped into his arms. Her legs dangled off the floor as she hung off Cadfael's shoulders as the man was considerably taller than her.

"Did you think I'd let you go to your Harrowing without wishing you luck?" Cadfael carefully set her down, Dinah stared up at him and shook her head

"Mage you know this is against the rules" the Templar barked

"Indoor voice Templar, you don't want to wake everyone up. I'm here now so if you have an issue I'd suggest you bring it up with either Grand Enchanter Irving or Greagoir, after you've seen to Dinah's Harrowing" that made the Templar back off, while it was no secret of Greagoir's distain for Cadfael's presence he was considered a friend of Irving. Hence how he knew he could get away with acts such as these, but didn't out of respect baring this occasion but this was a special occasion.

"That won't take long, I'll be back in less than an hour a fully-grown mage you'll see" Dinah proclaimed confidently bringing the attention back down to her. "You'll wait up for me, right?" she grabbed the sleeve of Cadfael's jacket, and for a split second he saw doubt in her eyes.

"Of course, now you shouldn't keep the others waiting, you'll do great" he leaned down and placed his forehead against Dinah's as he spoke, she nodded, smiled and skipped back to the Templars side. While he couldn't see because of the helmet but he was certain the Templar was glaring at him, but Cadfael just gave him an emotionless look until he was out of his line of sight.

With time to spare, and a knowledge of where the few night shift Templars were stationed Cadfael started to wander around the tower. It had been many years since he had been brought here, he could barely remember what his home looked like or his mother's voice. The letters from her had stopped some time ago, even now though he couldn't figure out if he was glad or angry about their absence. He knew he had cousins somewhere as well as four siblings that would all be near to his age, but he knew he'd never get to meet them. So far as he cared Dinah was his family, the regard used to extend to one mage Jowan until an incident Cadfael swore never to speak of, and another Anders, before his actions caused the rest of the mages to lose their swimming privileges. One of the few outdoor activities they were allowed.

Just as he was passing the tower's small prayer room, Cadfael heard a woman giggle. And then he heard Jowan laughing quietly. Taking a moment to weigh the pros and cons, Cadfael walked in.

"People pray here, as I'm sure as your aware. Initiate" he said pointedly, sighing as the couple jumped apart gasping in shock.

"Cadfael, what, what" Jowan stuttered

"Am I doing here? Seeing Dinah off to her Harrowing. And I see you're having relations with a chantry initiate"

"My name is" the woman started to say

"I know your name. The point is, this is against the rules and the both of you know that"

"And have you had this talk with Dinah, about her infatuation with that Templar?" Jowan snapped, trying to look angry and intimidating despite the fact Cadfael had practically caught him with his pants down with a member of the chantry.

"I have. And I'm surprised to hear you use her as a bad example. I was under the impression the two of you were still friends in spite of all things"

"Look, please, don't tell anyone. I'll do anything you ask, I swear" Jowan begged, Lily nodded her head enthusiastically showing her willingness for the affair not to be discovered.

"What you do in your free time is not my concern, _friend_. Know this though, if you ever put Dinah at risk again, everything you do becomes my concern and I will make sure Irving knows of all your indiscretions. Maybe this time your "friend" will provide a better incentive to keep your word. Now the pair of you, this is a place of spirituality and prayer so if you insist on continuing this meeting do it elsewhere" the embarrassed and blushing couple left the room with an excessive amount of haste. Frankly Cadfael didn't care what they were doing, but while he wasn't an avid believer in the Maker he knew better than to commit such acts in a place of faith. That and well, he didn't like Jowan so why not spoil his fun.

He sat down on one of the pews, closing his eyes and waited.

Two hours and six minutes passed by Cadfael's estimations, that was when he heard the Templars making their way back down the halls. Calmly but with haste he exited out into the hallway in time for Dinah to lethargically plod over and rest her head against his chest. She let out a sleepy sigh when he petted her head. Cullen and Irving were with her.

"We return your ward to you, she completed the Harrowing quite well. Though I'm surprised to see her still walking, the experience does appear to have drained her" Irving said

"She's half asleep, I'll take her back to her bed" Cadfael gently picked the small elf up in his arms, she snuggled her head into his neck holding Reginald to her heart. Admittedly Cadfael was surprised that they had let her keep a hold of it.

"While I have you, we are expecting a guest tomorrow who I would like you to meet" Irving said directly to Cadfael, Cullen had backed off a few steps but he didn't seem to want to leave just yet.

"Who?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you right now due to present company" to his credit Irving held his gaze on Cadfael, providing no indication which of the two with them was the reason.

"Fine. I will visit your office tomorrow. Once I have had a chance to ensure Dinah is settled"

"Understood. Now I believe the pair of you best return to your beds, I'm certain at least one of you requires a good night's rest" the grand enchanter bowed to the pair, Cadfael tilted his head as he didn't want to jostle the now fully asleep mage. Irving bid Cullen a goodnight as well before heading away towards his bedchambers.

"Do you intend to accompany us back to our beds, Cullen?" the young man blinked at Cadfael in confusion "Dinah is fond of you, is it so surprising I'd know your name?" Cadfael remarked as he started walking towards his room,

"More that you'd call me by my name, you don't usually refer to many by their actual names" Cullen point out, walking at Cadfael's side.

"It would be disrespectful to Dinah if I didn't at least attempt to be nice to you. Just don't wrong her, because you will regret it"

"I, I believe that" they walked past the Templar sleeping quarters, where Cullen reluctantly left.

When they reached his room Cadfael set Dinah down on his bed, putting the blanket over. Almost instantaneously she started sprawling around, when she first arrived she used to have severe nightmares so she ended up sleeping in Cadfael's bed. Her sprawling had been a source of contention between the two at one point. The only reason he'd brought her here now was because he knew she would need to talk about her experience, and that was better conducted in private. Cadfael sat on the chair near the bed, watching as Reginald the bear started moving around. It was an odd tale of how Reginald the living toy bear came to be, but suffice to say it was a toy bear that could move by itself and had its own sense of will and personality. It was difficult at times to keep his existence a secret from the Templars, his creation was part of why Cadfael didn't approve of Dinah spending time with Jowan but he had to admit, the bear was endearing at times despite the serious problems he could bring. The bear waddled over the bed, jumping into Cadfael's lap, Dinah had made sure the bear was solidly built with purple button eyes and a stitch work smile.

"I assume you helped Rotten traverse the fade?" Cadfael asked the bear who nodded "Thank you for your assistance"

"You're talking to a bear" came a sleepy voice, Dinah had managed to bunch the blankets up so only her hair and eyes were visible.

"And you're supposed to be asleep" Cadfael pointed out

"I was dreaming, my dreams of the fade are nicer than the fade they put me in"

"It's all the same Fade Dinah. It just appeared different now because they sent you in with the preconception it would be difficult, scary, out to try and trap you" Cadfael explained

"I like my Fade better than theirs. I met a spirit of Valour there, he looked like one of the Knights in my books"

"What did you do about Mouse?"

"The wisdom spirit?"

"You don't believe he was a pride demon?" Cadfael asked, genuinely surprised

"The robes he was wearing weren't right for the level of magi he said he was, but he didn't possess me when he readily could. The Templars find me unusual to begin with so it wouldn't be too difficult to pass of as me, but all he did was warn me about the dangers of the Fade and that tests are endless. Not very demony in my mind"

"Interesting perspective. Though you know I'd know if you were an abomination"

"You raised me I'd be sad if you couldn't tell the difference" she yawned widely then, somehow snuggling further into the bedding.

"Go back to sleep Rotten, the Harrowing is draining and you need rest"

"You say that but you never sleep"

"The potions I need to sleep need to be left to brew a time before they can be used. I will remain your vigil, one last time before you start your first day no longer an apprentice"

The high afternoon sun shone through the window of Cadfael's room, Dinah knew by this point her friend had left the room, likely to get food or a source of entertainment. Dinah sat up looking around for a change of clothes, sure enough fresh new clothes had been set out for her on the edge of the bed. It was a lovely blue and black dress, not like the usual clothing the Circle generally provided. From the stitch work Dinah could tell Cadfael had made it specially, there was only a small number of things that the tower residents could do with their time if they weren't dedicating most of their time to study. Dinah herself spend more time reading fairy tales and playing with the children, the enchanters and mages didn't always treat them as children and overwhelmed them with magic and history lessons. She quickly dressed and picked up Reginald who was patiently waiting at the door.

As it was midday everyone was already up and the tower was echoing with the sound of people going about their day to day business. There was a group of young children waiting outside the door as Dinah stepped into the hallway, two she recognised as Daniel and Edvard twin boys who arrived two years ago, who were still prone to mischief and an annoyance to the Templars. The third she assumed to be a new arrival, it was a petite elf girl who couldn't be more than eight three years younger that the twins.

"Hey Dinah, this is Alia she just got brought in today" Daniel introduced, gesturing for the girl to take a step towards Dinah.

"Andaran atish'an Alia, it's nice to meet you" Dinah said "I know it's a big building but you'll learn your way around"

"You know our tongue? I didn't think they taught that here" the girl mumbled

"We're not the only elves here da'len, we can learn as much about ourselves as we would in the Alienage"

"I like my home, I want to go back!" she stomped her foot hard on the ground, Dinah felt sparks of magic coming off the girl and sensed the nearby Templars tensing.

"I know da'len, what is it you like best about your home?"

"Atarah, she tells us stories. I'm going to miss her wedding"

"If you want, I could tell you stories too. Once a week we all get together in the library and read from one of the books. It's fun and you'll get to meet all the other children we have here, I'll let you hold Reginald if you'd like?" Dinah saw the start of a smile on the wee girls face "It will take time but, it will start to feel like home here, I promise" the little girl nodded and turned to the twins taking a hold of their hands

"She was feeling sad so we thought she'd feel better after talking to you, we're going to show her around now though. Ma serannas" Edvard phrased the last part as a question, Dinah had started teaching the children, both elven and human alike elven phrases. It was nice hearing them try and use them in conversation, she smiled and nodded letting him know it was the right phrase. She waved as the children started their tour of the tower.

On her way around the tower looking for Cadfael she noticed Cullen standing at his post near the library. His neck flushed as she walked over, looking up and down the hallway anxiously. He gestured to a room that by this time of day would be empty and walked in, taking the hint Dinah followed closing the door behind her. When she turned back around Cullen had his hands out in front of him, he was offering her a small bow.

"It's a present. To congratulate you on completing your Harrowing, and becoming a complete mage" his face was bright red by this point, Dinah set Reginald down to one side and took the box. Inside was a simple blue glass pendant on a silver chain.

"Pretty" Dinah said in awe, she'd never own jewellery before. The only way the mages could get outside belongings was if someone brought it in for them, and the Templars weren't inclined to buy such luxury items for them.

"I um, hoped you'd like it. Would you like me to help put it on?" Dinah nodded, passed the necklace back to the man and turned around so he could gently fasten it around her neck.

"Chilly" she giggled as the metal touched her skin "Thank you Cullen" once the necklace was secured Dinah turned going onto her tip toes to kiss the man's cheek, seemingly shocked by the sudden move Cullen moved his head at just the right moment that she kissed his lips instead causing a surprised gasp from both of them.

"I, I, I am so sorry I didn't mean to do that!" Cullen rambled sounding panicked.

"I didn't mind" Dinah said trying to reassure the man, it seemed strange a kiss would make him so nervous. He was a couple of years older than Dinah so she assumed he'd have kissed someone before. "I liked that, I've never kissed anyone before"

"Me neither, I'm not saying I minded it's just"

"I'm a mage? Forbidden love sometimes works out"

"Yes. I care for you Dinah, you know that. I don't want to see you endangered because of my feelings" Cullen looked at Dinah with such a sad look it made her chest hurt, she moved till she was right in front of him raising a hand to cup his chin. It didn't take much coaxing to get him to lower his head enough that she could kiss him again. He rested his forehead against hers and for a few moments they just breathed.

"I should let you get back to your post" Dinah whispered, when the Templar stepped back she could see tears in his eyes but he looked more happy or relieved rather than sad. He kissed her forehead and left the room.

There was a slight jingle sound to Dinah's right as Reginald climbed up onto a table, while his face couldn't change she could tell he was giving her a concerned look. Cadfael once made a comparison of Reginald's intelligence being equivalent to a mabari which she felt quite appropriate, she opened her arms out as Reginald leapt of the table into her arms. Fluffy paws immediately started playing with the new pendant. Just as she was about to leave the room the door opened, and a dwarf woman walked in. She was clad in light leather and armour, with a well-proportioned face, big bright blue eyes healthy red lips and short ear length red hair. When she saw Dinah, the woman smiled and Dinah couldn't help but smile back.

"Well, hello there. I'm sorry is this your room?" the woman asked

"Not mine, I was just in here because it was empty. I've never met a dwarf before, they said dwarves couldn't be mages" Dinah said in all honesty.

"They're right about that, I'm here visiting. I'm with the grey warden, his names Duncan. We've got another one of my kin here too. Duncan said we needed to come by and find some mage volunteers for the army. He's talking to one of the mages here about being recruited so we've been left to look around. Hey feel like showing me around?" the door opened again, this time Jowan stepped through looking pale and terrified.

"Dinah I've been looking everywhere for you, I need your help"

"I'll leave you two be. It was nice meeting you" the woman quickly left the room, closing the door after her. Jowan came up to her leaning close, talking in a hushed voice. "I need your help"

"Why are we whispering?"

"So the Templar's can't hear us, Dinah please focus"

"What's wrong?"

"They won't take me to do the Harrowing because they're going to make me tranquil!" so that's why he looked so scared.

"Why? Do they know about you and Lily?"

"N… wait how do you know about Lily, did Cadfael tell you?"

"No, when you thought everyone was asleep I heard you reading lines from one of the love stories from the library and dedicating them to the pot of lily's in our room. Thought you were just fond of flowers until I met her a few days ago"

"Yeah well that's beside the point, the point is she saw some papers that say the circle is planning on making me tranquil. Come on, we need to go meet Lily, she's waiting for us in the prayer room; we'll explain everything there" he grabbed Dinah's arm and quite insistently pulled her out of the room through the hallways.

As soon as he saw Jowan dragging Dinah down the hall he knew the man must have gotten into serious trouble, and was planning on having Dinah help resolve it. With an annoyed sigh he followed the pair, Cadfael was not in the mood to deal with Jowan today. He had been looking for Dinah to talk about his morning. The guest Irving wanted him to meet was a grey warden, who wanted to recruit him into the order. Irving was being quite insistent about the subject but without consultation Cadfael wasn't going to just agree to such a lifelong commitment.

Jowan and Dinah turned into the prayer room to the tower, meaning Lily must be there as well. The situation was steadily starting to become a greater cause of worry. Cadfael leaned on the wall outside the door, quietly casting a spell Dinah had created that allowed him to see and hear through Reginald. Made in case of emergencies and Cadfael had the feeling this might be one.

"Lily found the papers lying on Irving's desk, they think I'm a blood mage. They're going to take everything that makes me, me away if we don't do something" Jowan sounded fearful, a number of the mages were scared of being made tranquil and still being an initiate Jowan was at risk of being made one.

"How about just telling them you're not? I can back you up, and I wouldn't be lying, right?" Cadfael winced at that, he didn't know if Jowan had actually performed blood magic successfully but he'd caught the man reading books about the subject and that he had at one point convinced the Templars to allow him to carry a knife for his magical experiments; that he had yet to talk about or appear to actually conduct.

"Of course, I've never done blood magic it's all lies"

"So why don't we do that?"

"Because they've already signed the paperwork, it's too late to change their minds"

"Are you about to suggest a daring escape into the sunset with your lover on your arm?"

"This isn't one of your stories Dinah, but yes. We know where the keep the phylactery's, we just need to get in, destroy mine and then we can leave. They'd never be able to find us, I'd never use magic again I just want to be with Lily"

"Are you okay with leaving the Chantry?" Dinah was speaking directly to Lily now

"Yes, if it means being able to live my life with Jowan I'm ready to leave my life with the Chantry. We do have a plan, we just need help. The door to the store room won't open without a key only held by the Grand Enchanter and the Knight Commander, but if we can get a fire staff then we can just melt the lock" smart girl, intelligence has always been a trait Cadfael admired

"You don't need me to get that though"

"I'm just an initiate, they'd never let me take a fire staff. Even with you having passed your Harrowing you'll still need a signed permission but you're our best shot at doing this"

"I could get in big trouble for this Jowan"

"I know but Dinah please you have to help us, please"

"Okay, I'll try" at that Cadfael closed his eyes breathing heavily through his nose, literally just last night he warned Jowan not to put Dinah in danger. He broke the spell connection and stormed off some ways down the hall taking a seat on one of the benches the circle had put in the store room, waiting for Dinah to inevitably show up.

Sure enough five minutes later she walked through the archway, clinging tightly onto Reginald. He watched as she spoke with Owain, as he spoke about protocol and finally giving her a permission form that she needed an enchanter to sign. As an Enchanter himself Cadfael could sign the form, and he assumed Dinah would have the same idea. Sure enough when she turned around and saw him already there she looked happy, moving her arm as though she was going to gesture to the form when her face fell. Guiltily she shuffled over to Cadfael and sat down beside him.

"I see someone gave you a gift, is it from who I think it is?" Dinah nodded "I won't dispute your decision to pursue something with him, he is a good man, he'd look after you if I wasn't around"

"I didn't think that was why you were looking at me so coldly"

"You're here to get a fire staff. What Jowan is doing is foolish, you know that"

"I can't just leave him to his fate"

"No, you can't leave anyone behind. He says he's never done such magic, but you know as well as I he's read books about it; he gave you one about it not thinking anything of it, are you absolutely sure he's telling the truth?"

"I believe him. I trust that he isn't lying about something so serious and putting me and Lily in danger. He's my friend, and he loves Lily"

"Give me that" Dinah passed the permission form to him and he signed it, he had a plan that would at least keep Dinah safe; he just hoped his assumption about Duncan's need for wardens was as great as he thought. "Dinah, you know what could happen if you're caught? Are you prepared to take that risk?"

"Yeah, I have faith that everything will work out in the end" he handed her the now signed form. While she went back to Owain Cadfael charged back to Irving's office.

The Grey Warden was still there, there was also a female red haired dwarf and a male dwarf with thick brown hair and a bushy beard; Cadfael could see the mark of a casteless on the man's face. They looked a little shocked to see him there.

"Cadfael, I see you have thought about my offer?" Duncan questioned.

"I have a condition. Dinah, she's recently completed her Harrowing but she is an exceptionally talented mage. She specialises in entropy, poison and decaying magic capable of debilitating and slowing down large groups of enemies. If these darkspawn are as numerous as you say you need a mage like that. If you want me as one of your recruits, you recruit her as well regardless of circumstance" Duncan looked deep in thought at the suggestion

"I have not met this Dinah, Irving is there credit to what he says?"

"Indeed, Dinah is one of our most promising. She completed the Harrowing in a very reassuring time, and though unusual she does have a way with the younger initiates that the rest of us struggle with at times. Indeed, I'd say Cadfael and Dinah are at their best when together"

"And what does Dinah think of this arrangement?"

"She's an idealist, she reads stories of adventures and heroism and speaks of being considered a hero, she would never give up the chance to save another" he could see the dwarves eyeing him up in a curious fashion, Brynja and Sigurd he believed they were called.

"Very well, in that case I accept your offer. Both you and this Dinah shall be recruited into the grey wardens. Now with your pardon Grand Enchanter I wish to retire to my chambers, I have some matters I need to discuss with the recruits" Irving nodded and Duncan along with the dwarves left.

"Now, Cadfael. Why do I get the impression something has happened? Something that has driven you to seek an assurance to Dinah's safety?" Irving asked knowingly.

"I am here to insure my wards safety, nothing more. Say what it is you know and be done with it"

"I know that Jowan has been having relations with the Chantry initiate Lily, and that evidence has been found telling him to be a blood mage. I also know that Dinah considers Jowan a close friend, and you yourself admit she isn't the sort to abandon someone in need of help. Perhaps the initiate found papers of the circles intent to make Jowan tranquil? Or the lovers simply wish to run away together?"

"Jowan is dangerous, but not malicious. If he is practicing blood magic he must face punishment, but do not punish Lily for falling in love with the wrong man. That is all I am going to say on the matter" before Irving could say anything else Cadfael stormed out of the room, he had probably already said too much; or his actions provided enough to validate the Grand Enchanters concerns but that didn't matter right now.

A strange sense of foreboding washed over Dinah as they were about to leave the circle basement, they had destroyed Jowan's phylactery which was the goal but something felt wrong. Jowan didn't feel that though as the man was bubbling with joy and the idea of finally being free to be with his love, no longer bound to the circle. Yet as they climbed the steps back to the main hall Reginald started shaking violently in her arms.

Before she could say anything, Jowan and Lily had already pushed through the door. Standing there was Knight Commander Greagoir, with a group of Templars and Irving.

"So, it appears you were correct again Irving, an initiate and a blood mage. This will not go unpunished" Greagoir said in a bored tone

"But Jowan isn't even a blood mage and you were going to make him a tranquil anyway" Dinah said trying to defend her friend

"Dinah your loyalty to your friends is admirable but blinds you to the truth. You should have told me your plan, I'm disappointed" Irving said hammering on the disappointed eyes and head shake.

"Not even a mage for a day and already breaking the rules, you're a credit to your kind. You will be dealt with but first. Jowan on the charge of blood magic I the Knight Commander sentence you to death, and Initiate you will be sent to Aeonar" a couple of the Templars started moving forward to seize them.

"The mages prison? No, please not there!" Lily shrieked in fear backing away from the incoming Templars, in the back of the room Dinah saw Cadfael run in he reached out about to say something.

"NO DON'T TOUCH HER!" Jowan roared, pulling a knife out from inside his robes and stabbing himself in the hand. Collapsing to the ground in shock Dinah back pedalled away from the man, watching in horror as red mist of blood swirled around him, he threw his hands forward wand instantly Irving, Greagoir and the Templars collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Jowan was standing, panting looking at his hands in shock. He looked only briefly to Dinah before turning to Lily.

"Lily, I"

"Blood magic, blood magic is evil Jowan. You swore to me that you weren't a blood mage"

"I'm not, I mean I tried it but that's behind me. I'm giving up all magic, for you. I just want to be with you. I swear I'm still the same man please!" he begged, reaching out for Lily. By this point Cadfael had ran the length of the room, kneeling at Dinah's side putting his arm over her shoulders in a protective manner. She knew she was shaking but she couldn't stop.

"You lied to me! I was going to give up everything for you and you lied to me! How can I trust you? Go! Just go!" she demanded, in a last desperate attempt Jowan turned to Dinah eyes pleading for her to say something.

"You performed blood magic and lied. I can't help you Jowan"

"And you've never" Jowan started to say

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE! If you want your freedom now is your last chance, take it" Cadfael yelled at him, with one last longing look to Lily Jowan fled. "You may come to regret not leaving with him, I hope you're prepared for what awaits"

Slowly but surely everyone began to wake up, albeit a little groggy and sluggish; Irving was the last to get back to his feet.

"You see what you've done? You've helped a blood mage escape, and we have no way of tracking him" Greagoir chastised her "And you, you have shamed the chantry and will be sentenced to Aeonar"

"Greagoir. If the initiate was possessed or enthralled by the blood mage she would have left with him" Cadfael pointed out

"Please, don't defend me. Even though I did not know he was a blood mage, I still broke my vows and helped a mage escape the circle. I will accept any punishment you deem fit" this time when the Templars approached she willingly went with them.

"As for you" Greagoir turned to Dinah, at that moment Duncan and two dwarves walked into the room.

"If I may have your attention. I have recruited these two mages into the grey wardens, they will be leaving with me" the grey warden said sternly. Dinah looked up at Cadfael in confusion but he gave her a look that said play along and I'll explain later.

"But this mage has violated the rules of this circle!"

"Greagoir please, the decision has already been made they are with the grey wardens now"

With reluctance, the commander let them go, Duncan told them to gather their possessions and prepare to leave. It didn't take long for Dinah to pack, so she went to Cadfael's room.

"Cadfael? How did I end up a grey warden?"

"I made a deal with the grey warden. If they wanted to recruit me they had to recruit you too" he explained shoving his sleeping potions into his bag "When I realised what was going on with Jowan I needed a contingency if it went wrong and that was the only way I could find that would keep you safe" he finished packing and faced Dinah "I'm sorry I took the choice away from you"

"You were right, he was lying the whole time and put us in harm's way. You've always been there for me Cadfael, thank you. I will return the favour one of these days, promise" she shuffled forward until she was close enough to wrap her arms around his torso in a tight hug, he petted her hair gently until she let go.

Together they walked towards the main entrance to the tower, Cullen was one of the Templars stationed at the door. They exchanged a small sad smile.

"I'll write when I can" Dinah said out loud, hoping that Cullen would understand she was talking to him instead of any of the others in the room. Judging from the slight nod and a slightly happier smile she guessed he knew what she meant.

"Travel safe the two of you" Irving bid them a farewell, Cadfael gave the man a hand shake while Dinah bowed.

They faced the door of the circle, the enormity of the situation finally dawning on Dinah. She was leaving the place she'd called home since she was three, she was finally free to go wherever she wanted. She was getting the chance to become a hero like in one of her stories.

The doors opened.


	4. Chapter 4 Atarah Tabris

Atarah: A lean and elegant elf with light shoulder length blonde hair with light blue eyes, she has a calm control of her body, the grace of a dancer and the composure of a warrior. She is a reassuring figure in her community willing to do whatever necessary to protect her family and her people.

(Authors note: this is the city elf origins so it includes all that that origin implies, nothing in detail but still heads up)

One of the things Atarah was sure she'd always remember was the feeling of waking up the day of a celebration, the fresh smells of warm baked goods, the burning candles in the coloured lanterns, the children playing with more excitement in their voices than usual and adults speaking with barely supressed joy. Today was the day of her cousin Soris' wedding, his betrothed had arrived sometime last night and they were set to wed before Soris had a chance to run.

"Hey wake up sleepyhead, what're you still doing in bed?" came a voice Atarah recognised well, her other cousin Shianni had taken it upon herself to come into her room and interrupt her relaxing morning. She cracked open her eyelids, seeing her cousin sitting on the edge of her bed already dressed in her nice clothes reserved only for special occasions.

"Relaxing, not like I have too much to do today anyway. My betrothed isn't meant to get here for another few days" she closed her eyes again rolling onto her side, Shianni then started poking at her ribcage persistently.

"That's what I came to tell you, he's here. Neloros arrived early, they're going to have yours and Soris' wedding today" she said excitedly, at that Atarah bolted straight into a sitting up position wide eyed. "Aren't you excited? It's your wedding day!"

"I, what? I don't want to get married, I was going to use the next few days to try and get out of it" Atarah climbed out of bed past Shianni, running through the small house to where she knew her father would be waiting. He looked solemn as he opened his arms out to hug his daughter.

"My little girl, it's the last day I get to call you that" he said quietly

"You know I'll always be your little girl, why didn't you wake me up and tell me Neloros was here? You know I'm not ready to get married" Atarah said returning her father's embrace, something in her gut was telling her something bad was going to happen today and this was making her feel a bit better.

"And give you more time to escape? You know how lucky you are to have me around to find you a match, Soris had to rely on the elder to find him someone. I think if you give him a chance you'll find you two get along"

"I still didn't get to pick" she pointed out stepping back to sit on one of the old chairs they had, her father taking the one opposite her.

"I know in a perfect world we'd chose who we spend our lives with, I know when I was set to marry your mother I wanted to run for the hills but I'm so glad I didn't. I loved your mother so much and if I hadn't married her I would never have had you. I do believe you can find happiness with Neloros, he seems a good man who will treat you well. Speaking of your mother, the things she taught you the sword and knife play, best keep that a secret for now until after the wedding"

"He'll find out at some point, *sigh* if I have to get married I at least wish mother was here to watch"

"I miss her too, she'd be proud of you Atarah. Now I had a dress specially made for you, it's in the trunk by your bed, along with a gift I've been saving for your special day. And when you're ready, head outside and find Soris so the pair of you can meet your betrothed together" with that her father stood up and left the house, Atarah went back to her room where Shianni was waiting for her.

Her cousin helped her put on her new dress, it was white leather round the torso with white fabric covering her arms and running down her legs. It was long enough to be considered acceptable for a wedding but the material was light enough that it didn't impede Atarah's movements in any capacity, while the leather felt sturdy enough for mild combat. She couldn't help but smile a large toothy smile, feeling the care that went into the dress so clearly made with her in mind.

At the bottom of the trunk was a pair of tall work boots Atarah knew weren't hers, the were built from sturdy black leather and had think wooden soles that would take years to wear through. They fitted perfectly.

"You look so pretty cousin, I'm almost jealous" Shianni joked "I'll be outside with the rest of the bridesmaids, I'm trusting you not to run off now" and she too left the house, leaving Atarah standing alone in the place she'd lived in since she was born. She knew once she was married she was likely to move to the Highever Alienage with her new husband, it was part of why she didn't want to marry in the first place. That and Atarah always believed when she married it would be to someone she loved, not someone who had been chosen for her.

Tucking her pale blonde hair into a pony tail Atarah left her childhood home, and was immediately hit with the smell of bread. Weddings were one of those events that brought everyone in the alienage out in full force, no expense was spared in preparing plentiful food for everyone. A young elf girl ran up to Atarah and offered her a flower. Young Amethyne, her mother Iona was a lady in waiting, but Atarah forgot the name of the woman she was working for, who was currently away. The estate she worked at didn't have enough room for Amethyne so the girl was left in the Alienage, being looked after by the neighbours. Atarah for her part in the community would normally gather the children together and tell the stories, though today she didn't think she'd have enough time. She would have liked to gather them together one more time, she had a good story saved up.

She found Soris, already dressed in his wedding gear, sitting on a wooden support structure on the edges of the Alienage. He was rubbing his hands together and looked like he was mumbling under his breath. Atarah wasted no time climbing up until she was level with her cousin.

"So, it looks like we're getting married today"

"It would seem so, I heard your groom arrived this morning, word is he's a dream while my betrothed sounds like a mouse"

"Not too late to run"

"And go where? Live with the Dalish? We don't even know where to find them"

"I've always wanted to meet a Dalish elf" Atarah mused, Soris was about to say something else when he suddenly stopped, Atarah felt a chill run up her spin as she sensed a presence enter the Alienage. They turned and there just short of where they were perched they could see a small group of noble men approaching Shianni and the other bridesmaids.

The men were scaring them but Shianni wasn't backing down.

"We shouldn't get involved, we could only make this worse" Soris said, not even sounding convinced in his own resolve.

"Shianni's going to get herself killed!" Atarah countered, bracing herself before jumping off the wooden structure towards the group. She landed right in front of the group just as the leader was taking a step towards Shianni, he was clearly a noble who felt entitled to their "company" the fact he had friends with him made him all the more a threat. This man needed to be dealt with non-violently or else Atarah wasn't sure what he'd be capable of.

"What have we hear? Another lovely thing here to keep me company?" he said in a voice that made Atarah's skin crawl, it took every inch of her will power not to punch the man down.

"You wouldn't know what to do with me. Now look you've had your fun now go, we don't want any trouble and neither do you" Atarah replied in a calm voice, staring the man straight in the eye knowing that act alone would put him off because how dare a knife ear look a nobleman directly in the eye.

"What, how, dare you!" he blustered, stalking straight up to Atarah "Do you know who I am?!"

"I don't know who you are and I don't care. You have entered our community on the day of a wedding without invitation. I am asking you nicely to leave and no more will be said about this incident" he was about to say something else, or even try and strike Atarah judging by the sudden movement in his dominant arm when all of a sudden…

 _Crash_

His body fell to the floor limply as he lost consciousness, above his body stood Shianni holding the shattered remains of a bottle looking a mixture of shocked and full of rage. The men with him were only briefly stunned by the action before their bodies stiffened, balling their fists in a fashion that made Atarah glad that they weren't carrying weapons.

"Do you have any idea what you just done?! That's Vaughn Urien the arl of Denerims son!" one of the men exclaimed. Gasps and exclaims of horror filled through the crowds as everyone backed off. "You'll pay for this Knife-Ears, you'll be certain of that"

"Leave. Now." Atarah ordered the men, they hoisted Vaughn on their shoulders and left the Alienage quickly but Atarah felt a freezing cold ball in her stomach that told her they would be back. But for now, there was nothing she, or anyone could do now but hope for the best. "Shianni, what were you thinking?!"

"I, I, I don't know. I've really messed up this time" Shianni replied seemingly in shock

"Look, just get ready for the wedding. Hopefully this'll just blow over, just don't do anything else this stupid please? Shianni looked between her and Soris glumly before following instructions.

Two elves that Atarah didn't recognise came up to her and Soris, the woman had mousy brown hair and an odd face, as though her cheeks weren't quite the right shape for the rest of her proportions and her eyes were a little too close together. Even so judging by the look on Soris' face he looked a little smitten, his earlier nervousness seemingly set at ease. The other she assumed to be her betrothed Neloros, while even Atarah had to admit he was quite attractive he simply looked to clean and proper for her taste, her father had always chastised her for her preference to more relaxed improper men with a rougher edge.

"That was certainly intense, is everyone alright?" Neloros asked, with the question directed more towards Atarah than anyone else, as he reached out and touched her arm lightly.

"Just shaken I think, what was that about?" the woman asked

"It doesn't matter, we should just focus on something else. Atarah this is Valora, my betrothed" Soris said, and could Atarah detect a hint of excitement in his voice?

"And that makes you Neloros, to be honest I wasn't expecting to see you today" Atarah admitted, Soris and Valora stepped off to the side together presumably to get a bit better acquainted leaving her with her intended.

"Sorry if I ruined your plans to escape" he joked, or at least attempted. He seemed unsure of the situation, Atarah had been told she had that effect on men in particular.

"I'll be honest with you Neloros. I don't want to get married. Or the very least I'd have liked a choice, but my father says you're a good match for me so I'm willing to give this a try if you are" as much as she'd joke about running, ultimately Atarah knew in her bones she could never do that to her father after everything he'd been through and how much effort he'd went to find her a good match. Neloros gave her an understanding smile and a nod, to his credit he seemed to respect her honest in regards to the situation.

"In that case, I hope I can prove to you I can make you happy" Atarah felt a tap on her shoulder

"We should let them get ready cousin" the pair bid Neloros and Valora farewell letting them head to wherever it was the two were getting ready for the wedding. "We have another guest" Soris said directing Atarah's attention to the human man that had just walked into the Alienage. He didn't look like a guard, the armour while impressive and clearly well made it wasn't a guard's armour. He also seemed to carry himself with a level of dignity Atarah had never seen in the guards that would patrol around or near the Alienage. The man was just standing there, as though he was waiting for something or someone. Not wanting to risk anymore trouble Atarah calmly approached the man, Soris a few steps behind.

The man didn't have much of a reaction as they approached, he turned his body towards them looking at Atarah with a look of reserved curiosity but made no move towards them or the weapons he had strapped to his back. She noticed a strange look to his eyes, a faint unnatural glow in his iris'.

"Well met" he said

"Hello stranger, I must ask you to either state your business or leave"

"My business is my own, and if I refuse to leave?"

"I ask you again then, to leave. We are celebrating weddings today and we've already had trouble with humans we'd prefer not to have anymore. If you have important legitimate business surely you would be fine with sharing, or if it's not important you can come back later"

"I'd prefer to stay"

"We'd prefer it if you left"

"Interesting to meet one capable of holding their ground and composure when faced with an armed and armoured man"

"You wouldn't strike down someone unarmed, you don't have that look about you. Fine, stay if you must I trust you mean no harm"

"I thank you for your trust. To speak the truth, I am here to meet your elder" almost as though summoned magically by his mention Hahren Valendrian waltzed up to the man's side.

"Ah my good friend, I'm glad to see you've arrived safely. It's been far too long" he greeted the man warmly

"You know this man then?" Atarah asked, more for clarification before she let the matter of this man's presence drop.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Duncan of the Fereldan Grey Wardens. It is a pleasure to meet you"

"Atarah Tabris, this is my cousin Soris. Sorry about my dismissiveness, todays experience has left me warier of strangers than I usually am but any friend of Hahren Valendrian is welcome here. Mother told me your order wanted to recruit her but she said no"

"Yes well, let's not dwell on the past, shall we? I believe it's about time for the ceremony to begin so if the two of you will take your places" Valendrian said in a rush, gently but determinedly ushering them towards the platform that the Alienage had set up for the weddings.

The platform was sparsely decorated, as the Alienage had little in the way of fine decorations and most of the little time and money available had been dedicated to the food preparations. Shianni was standing with the other bridesmaids, looking beautiful with her hair down for once. While her rambunctious personality made her a bit of a handful for suitors Atarah was certain her cousin would make someone the luckiest husband in the world. She took her place beside Neloros while Soris stood beside Valora, Neloros gave her a warm smile and reached over to take Atarah's hand. She had heard that taking the hand of someone you felt affection for would cause sparks to race up your arm but she felt no such spark.

Atarah let her mind wander as Valendrian spoke to everyone, she thought of what the Highever Alienage would be like to live in. She was almost envious of Soris, he wouldn't have to move to live in his wife's home. Looking through the crowd she locked eyes with her father, there were tears in his eyes and Atarah felt a lump in her throat and she had to push down the urge to jump off the platform to hug him. A lady in the chantry started reciting wedding rites when a gasp came from one of the women. The clanking of metal told Atarah everything before she even looked up. Vaughn had returned, with reinforcements.

He had the same two men that were with him earlier along with half a dozen fully armoured and armed guards, who marched through the Alienage without any regard for the elves between them and the platform as one of them even shoved a child roughly to the ground. They invaded the platform, standing too close to Shianni and the women as Vaughn stood centre.

"Terribly sorry to interrupt but we're having a party and are in need of female guests" he leered, eyeing up Valora as he spoke.

"My lord this is a wedding" Mother Boann cried out weakly, Vaughn and his men just laughed cruelly.

"Dress up all you like, but don't think this is a real wedding. Now which of you lucky ladies shall we bring back for our party. We'll take, you and you, the one in the pretty dress" he pointed to Nola, Olenn and Valora. They only resisted for a moment before it was clear they couldn't escape the men's grasp. "And of course, this little bitch, it'll be fun playing with you after what you did to me" he growled menacingly at Shianni, lunging forward and grabbing her by the throat. She immediately started slapping his arm trying to get him off her.

"Get off me you son of a bitch" she rasped.

"HEY!" Atarah shouted striding forward kicking him in the back of the legs, the shock causing him to let go of Shianni and whirl round to Atarah. Neloros tried reaching out to pull her away from the noble but she stood her ground. "Lay another hand on her or anyone here and I swear to you, you will regret it. No amount of gold, guards, titles or negotiating will save you"

"Atarah, don't" she heard Soris whisper

"Feisty one, aren't you? Well let's see how long you hold on to that for" before Atarah could react a fist slammed into the side of her head knocking her out cold.

Atarah awoke to the sound of Nola praying almost hysterically in a chant. Olin, Valora and Shianni were sitting around her, as she sat up she felt Shianni's hand on her back steadying her.

"Nola. I understand you're scared but please calm down, we're going to be fine" Atarah said, trying to sound reassuring but Nola kept chanting. The girl must be frightened out of her mind if she couldn't even respond to Atarah's words.

"Fine? We're not going to be fine. Those bastards have locked us in here until that monster is ready for us. We don't have a choice, we just have to do what they say, they'll only hurt us worse if we fight back" Olin said sounding on the verge of hyperventilating.

"So what? We just lie down and take it? No!" Shianni was getting angrier by the second, the back of her neck was going red. If she tried anything in this state Atarah was sure her cousin would be cut down in mere seconds.

"Cousin, please. We need to be calm and rational about this, we have no weapons and I'm the only one with any combat training to speak of anyway. When those guards come through just go along with what they say and on my mark" before Atarah could finish her sentence the door burst open and a group of armed guards waltzed in.

"GET AWAY FROM US!" Nola stood up screaming in a frenzied state, the man at the head of the group drew his sword and cut her throat open as though the action was a completely natural response.

"You… you killed her" Olin stuttered slumping to the ground in shock

"YOU BASTARDS!" Shianni roared charging at the group, Atarah tried to grab her but one of the other guards drew his sword holding up to her neck. A guard easily threw Shianni over his shoulder, barely acknowledging her attempts to kick and punch him.

"Take that one straight to Vaughn, you two grab the others we'll handle this one. Might need to bind her before we bring her to Vaughn" Atarah stood helpless as her cousin and friends were taken away to who knows where in this building, leaving her with two guards to contend with.

Slowly Atarah started stepping backwards, trying to get some space between her and the sword at her throat, she would have no chance with a weapon so close to her. The armour the guard had didn't cover his wrist as he had neglected to wear his gauntlets unlike his comrades, a short-sighted error that Atarah could exploit but she needed a distraction.

There was a sudden commotion just outside the room, both guards stupidly turned their heads in response. Atarah took the chance, she grabbed the guard's wrist and twisted until she felt the bones crack as they broke. The guard dropped his sword, grabbing his arm screaming in pain. She dropped to the ground picking up the guard's sword, it was heavier than what she was used to but with the lower angle she lined up the blade with the gap in the man's chest piece and rammed it into his torso with her full weight. He let out a pathetic whine as the air left his punctured lung.

She pulled the sword out of him just as his comrade realised what was happening, he let out a warning yell drawing his own weapon. He raised his sword above his head and was about to charge when a sword passed through his neck, blood poured down his front and he fell to the floor gurgling choking on his own blood. Now standing above the man's body was Soris, still dressed in his wedding attire now armed with a bloody sword his face was pale and for a moment Atarah was worried he would either pass out or throw up. He stood firm however, and with his free hand he handed her a leather belt one with two sheathes with two blades, it took years for Atarah to earn enough for the blades and materials to make the belt but she had never been happier to see it than in that moment.

"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you?" Soris demanded

"No and no. We need to hurry, the guards already took the others" Atarah said hurriedly strapping the belt around her waist and drawing her blades at the ready. She looked up at Soris to see him staring at Nola's body, tears in his eyes. "Nola is gone but we can still save the others. What are our assets?"

"The Grey Warden, Duncan he gave us a spare sword and crossbow but that's it"

"Us?"

"Neloros, Valendrian wanted us to wait and hope for the best but Neloros refused so we're here to rescue you. Neloros is watching the door up ahead we should get moving" they paused only a moment to take a breath before running out the cell, straight into three guards eating in the mess hall. Atarah knew there was no way out of a fight, they were elves covered with blood these men weren't planning on asking questions.

The first man ran up swing his sword downward aiming to cut into Atarah's shoulder, she side stepped him stomping her foot into the bend of the man's ankle the force sending him falling forwards to the ground. She rose her left blade to block the second unarmoured man's attack, his momentum carrying him forward a step too far exposing his side. With her second black Atarah quickly stabbed into the man's side four times before he could retaliate or even move out of the way. His shirt quickly soaked through red with blood, Atarah kicked him in his side causing him to let out a yelp as he collapsed, knocking plates and cutlery to the floor, still breathing though.

Her feet were suddenly knocked out from underneath her and Atarah found herself flat on her back her blades dislodged from her grip. The first man climbed on top of her and wrapped his hands around her neck closing off her windpipe. She could hear Soris calling her name, but she ignored it as she focused on reaching the bread knife that had landed not far from her. Black spots appeared in her vision just as she felt the knife in her hand, she didn't hesitate to drive it into the man's neck. She must have nicked a vein as blood came out at an alarming rate. He fell backwards and didn't get back up. Atarah sat up gasping for breath, seeing the third man already on the floor with half a dozen arrows sticking in him. Her cousin ran to her side pulling her to her feet, and helped her pick up her blades. There was a slight wheezing coming from the second man who was miraculously still alive. Atarah knelt at his side and dragged him up eye level with her, his skin was pale he was close to death.

"Where are they?! Where did they take our friends?!" she demanded

"They, they took them to Vaughn's bedchambers… it's down that hallway… not far… I'm… sorry… just following… orders" the man chocked out before his head lolled back and his last breath left him, Atarah lightly set him back down.

"He apologised? Why?" Soris asked in as much confusion as Atarah felt but there was no time to ponder. She stood up and ran through the door at the other end of the mess hall, ramming it open with her shoulder. The sound of her boots echoed through the building but Atarah didn't care, her friends were counting on her she couldn't afford the time to traverse the estate stealthily.

Just a few feet ahead, Atarah could hear more guards, and a voice cry out in pain. They rounded the corner to see Neloros's limp bloodied body fall to the ground. One of the guards opened his mouth to say something but Atarah didn't give him a chance as she ran into the room.

One of the men swung his sword low, aiming to cleave her in half, she ducked backwards blade pointing outwards. She felt the blade slice through the man's knee cap where the armour leg joint split, there was a thud as Soris planted an arrow in the man's shoulder. The combination caused him to lose grip of his sword sending it flying towards the other guards from the momentum of his attack alone forcing the other guards to back off. The man fell to his knees, though even that caused him to cry out from the pain in his knee, leaving him at the perfect height for Atarah to force her blade into the man's skull through his eye socket. She raised her blade in time to block a downward strike from the next guard, she just stopped the blow landing but the force of the strike shook through her arm and she winced in pain. She pulled her second blade out from the dead man's skull, ignoring the squelching noise it made and tried to ram it into the man above her but he lifted his leg and kicked her away.

She jumped to her feet, stumbling back a few steps, she saw Soris firing bolts into the third guardsman so she put her focus back on the man who kicked her. He stepped forward and Atarah met him in the middle of the room, he swung the sword downwards again and with enough time now Atarah was able to easily side step the attack. With his side open Atarah put her full wait and rammed into him, the weight of his armour and gravity took him the rest of the way. Using her foot she flipped the man onto his back and brought her blade down into his neck.

"They killed Neloros, I can't believe it" Soris said, having dispatched his opponent. He was now kneeling beside their brethren's body.

"He died trying to save us, we need to make sure it's not in vain. We'll mourn for him, and Nola once we've got the others home safe" Atarah said firmly, which gently pulling Soris to his feet.

They took off sprinting, as they ran Atarah could start to clearly hear the sound of someone crying. Her blood ran cold as she realised she was too late. They reached what they could only assume was Vaughn's room and she kicked the door in, it slammed into the wall hard enough it fell off its hinges.

The first thing Atarah saw was her cousin, crying in a ball on the floor, her face was bruised and her dress had been ripped to shreds and Atarah could see traces of blood on her legs. The chill spread from her stomach filling her blood as she turned to Vaughn, who had a smile on his face as though he was proud of what he'd done. His comrades were saying something but their words did not pierce her ears as she walked up to Vaughn and drove both her blades into his chest, and twisted. He clawed at her arms, coughing and spluttering blood down himself.

"I told you. No amount of gold, guards, titles or negotiating will save you" she twisted the blades even further into the pig "You deserve so much worse for what you've done but this pain will have to do. Now die" with that she ripped the blades out of Vaughn letting him fall as he rapidly bled to death on his bedroom floor. She turned to the two men still in the room, when the smell of urine filled her nose. One of the men had pissed themselves in fear.

Two bolts fired, one was hit in the eye and the other in his head and they fell to the floor. Atarah quickly sheathed her blades kneeling at her cousins side.

"Get the others, let me talk to her" she told Soris keeping her eyes on her crying cousin. She reached out her hand but Shianni let out a scream and backed away hitting the end of the bed.

"NO STOP PLEASE!" she cried

"Shianni it's me, Atarah, your cousin. We're going to bring you home" Atarah tried to comfort her but the tears still fell. "Cousin I have no idea what you're going through right now. But believe me when I say you are safe. The man that hurt you is dead and bleeding all over the floor. We're going home, and I swear to you, you will survive this. You are strong, you are not going to let this man break you because you deserve better than that. Please Shianni, take my hand. Let me take you home" slowly Shianni came out of the foetal position, her eyes were bloodshot but she held eye contact with Atarah as she reached out to take her hand. Ever so gently Atarah helped her to her feet, when her cousin's legs gave way she placed Shianni's arm over her shoulders and the other around her waist. "I'll carry you if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine, just take me home, please" she replied in barely a whisper, by this point Soris had returned with the other women. He looked like he wanted to say something but Atarah shook her head, and he remained silent. As a group the carefully weaved their way through the estate, leaving through a side exit making haste to get back to the walls of the Alienage.

 _"I'm so sorry Shianni, I wasn't fast enough. Please forgive me"_ Atarah yearned to say but kept silent the whole walk.

Valendrian, Atarah's father and the Duncan were waiting at the entrance when they got back, her father let out a huge sigh of relief and ran over presumably to hug her. Atarah held her free hand out signalling her father to stop, she still held onto Shianni and thought it would be better not to have anyone, even the girl's uncle rush up to her.

"My child, what happened?"

"He hurt Shianni, so I killed him. He would have hurt the others. His men, they killed Nola and Neloros. I'm sorry father"

"My little girl, no. You did everything you could" his eyes darted over her shoulders and widened in fear "Ladies, will you take Shianni back home. She needs rest" Valora and Olin carefully took Shianni from Atarah's arm, Shianni held onto her for a few seconds before letting the women guide her away. Atarah turned to see what had put fear into her father's eyes and saw guards walking into the Alienage

"I am here to speak with Elder Valendrian" the leader announced

"That is I. How may I be of assistance?"

"The Arls son is dead, and many of his guards were killed. We know whoever was involved is from here. I need names. Now" Atarah couldn't help but marvel at guard ineptitude sometimes, as she was covered in now dry blood.

"It was I. I killed the Arls son" Atarah confessed, pushing Soris slightly behind her before he could try and admit his part in the attack.

"One elf woman did all that? I find that hard to believe" the guard scoffed

"Not all elves are helpless" Valendrian responded

"Very well. In that case, you are hereby under arrest, you will be placed in the dungeons until you are sentenced"

"Sir if I may have your attention" Duncan interrupted, the guard looked annoyed but gestured for the grey warden to continue "I hereby invoke the rite of conscription, this woman is now under my care and will leave with me to join the grey wardens" Atarah stared at the warden in shock, was this something he could do? She had heard stories of wardens but even after meeting the man the thought of becoming one never even crossed her mind.

"Son of a… very well that is your right. Just make sure she's gone by tomorrow" the guard ordered before huffing and telling his men to turn around.

"I expected you would be leaving soon but no like this" Atarah's father said sadly, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace

"I'm so sorry father, I didn't mean for any of this to happen" Atarah felt tears well in her eyes but she dared not let them fall

"Of course you didn't child, but life isn't always fair especially for us"

"Atarah I'm afraid we need to leave post haste, we still have one more place to visit before Ostagar and I already had to send my group on ahead to prepare" Duncan interrupted.

"I have to say goodbye to Shianni first. I will meet you once I've made sure she'll be alright"

"Very well"

"See Shianni, I'll return to the house and grab a few of your things" her father said

Atarah jogged back through the Alienage to where Shianni was staying, she found her cousin lying in bed. When Atarah approached, her eyes opened though her cousin didn't move, the girl seemed to have no strength at that moment. Atarah knelt by Shianni's head and actually saw a small smile from her cousin.

"Hey" she mumbled

"Hey, I'm sorry to wake you but I must. The grey warden Duncan, he conscripted me into the grey wardens to stop the guards from throwing me into the dungeons but I must leave today"

"What? Cousin, no you can't leave" Shianni started crying and Atarah felt her heart break

"Ir abelas cousin. I don't have a choice. My father and Soris will be with you, they'll keep you safe and I promise you I will return"

"But I need you cousin" Shianni weakly lifted her hand reaching out for Atarah, Atarah took her cousins hand and kissed the knuckle.

"I'm so sorry I can't be here for you and that I let you down, but I know you'll be okay because you're my cousin. You're Shianni, an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. I'll come back and I'll even bring you a present. You should get some rest, I just wanted to say goodbye before I had to go" she let go of Shianni's hand standing up once more. This was not how she imagined her day turning out, she didn't want to leave her family in such a poor state but she feared what the guards would do should she not be gone by the next morning.

Her father and Soris were waiting for her outside, her cousin flung his arms around her and she could feel his body tremble with silent unfallen tears. He could barely speak as he shoved something into her hands, stepped past her heading inside presumably to tend to Shianni. The ground crackled as her father approached her, he gently placed the strap of a bag over Atarah's shoulder. It was the only bag she owned, it wouldn't hold much but it was better than leaving with nothing. He also had a grey hooded cowl which he draped over her shoulders, tying the ties holding it in place.

Atarah felt her throat close up as she tried to say something to her father, but the words were stuck. She had a feeling that she wouldn't see her father again for quite some time and the enormity of that threatened to consume her if she forced herself to say anything. Instead she buried herself into her father's embrace one last time. He petted her hair and let her go, giving her a small sad smile and a look in his eye that said stay safe my child.

There was a clink of metal as Duncan had started to approach, Atarah gave her home one last loving look before turning her back to walk out of the Alienage at the grey wardens side.


	5. Chapter 5 Rhiannon Cousland

Rhiannon: A tall and noble woman, with chin length but messy brown hair and light eyes. Her skin is a healthy sun kissed but has perpetually pink sun burnt cheeks from many hours outside. She has a soft face even but a strong sense of sense and will that is still visible to those around her.

It was a rare day Rhiannon woke up with the desire to wear a dress, usually unless she was wearing armour she'd don the similar tunics and pants that the rest of the men in the castle would wear. Sometimes people would stare in confusion and whisper something about etiquette and not being lady like but by this stage most people were used to it. Today though Rhiannon wanted to wear a dress, it was a gift from her mother in an effort to get her more invested in the delicate arts, it was a simple purple dress that complimented her hair nicely. Her mother would probably approve of seeing her wearing it today, as family friends were visiting and Rendon was here ahead of his armies to speak with her dad.

As she left her room she took a moment to enjoy the shocked gasps from the servants before continuing her way through the castle to find her father who she heard wanted to see her. Her brother Fergus was meant to be heading out with their troops to Ostagar today while their dad stayed behind to wait for Rendon's men and head over with them. She wanted to go with them but Elendin one of the servants had told her, her dad wanted her to stay and run Highever while they were away, even her mother was going to stay with her friend for a time. While she didn't mind being left the rule Highever, she knew she was capable of doing so it just bothered her being the only one left in Highever while her family were gone for varying reasons.

Finally reaching the main room where her dad was she saw Rendon was also there and the two were in deep conversation with a third man that Rhiannon didn't recognise. Looking around there was one more person Rhiannon didn't recognise, an elf woman that looked to be roughly Rhiannon's age maybe younger. She was dressed in what looked like a wedding dress and had blades strapped to her side. Sensing her gaze the elf turned to look at Rhiannon.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Rhiannon asked dumbly

"How should I be dressed?" the elf asked in a reserved voice, Rhiannon recognised the look, the woman was waiting to make a judgement on Rhiannon.

"It's just that you look like you're dressed for a wedding"

"I haven't had a chance to change" Rhiannon wasn't sure how to respond to that so instead she offered her hand for a handshake.

"Rhiannon Cousland, welcome to our home" she greeted happily, the elf smiled then and returned the handshake.

"Atarah Tabris, thank you for your hospitality. I'm here with Duncan, he's a grey warden. Recruited me a few days ago, says we're here to look at a possible recruit. Ser Gilmore I think they said his name was" Atarah told her, her disposition now a bit more open and friendly.

"Gilmore? He's one of the knights here, he's worked for our family for some years now. What's it like being a warden?"

"I'm just a recruit, so I can't really answer that. But it looks like your fathers waiting for you, it was nice speaking with you" Atarah said, turning away from Rhiannon to a book she had apparently been reading. Sure, enough her dad was standing with Rendon and who she assumed to be Duncan were standing in the middle of the room waiting for her to come over.

She quickly approached being warmly greeted with a hug from her dad.

"Good morning pup, I see you've taken to your mother's gift. You look beautiful" he said "You remember my daughter right Howe?"

"Why yes, and may I say what a lovely woman she has grown up to be. My son Thomas asked after you, perhaps I should bring him with me next time" Rendon said conversationally

"Thank you for the compliment, though if I may speak freely I have always gotten on better with your other son Nathaniel" she admitted, in the rare times she'd met Rendon's family she found Thomas a little odd but harmless and Delilah was well Delilah.

"Haha, see what I contend with? Now pup, I know rumours go through the servants like wild fire and you're quite fond of speaking with then when you have the time. I'd like to just ensure you know that they're true"

"I'm to rule Highever while the rest of you are away" it wasn't a question

"Yes, I know part of you would like to go into battle with us but I know our home will be safest in your hands. Now, allow me to introduce you to Duncan of the grey wardens. He's here looking for recruits and has his eye on" her dad was saying

"Ser Gilmore, your recruit by the door told me" she filled in the rest

"Ah yes Atarah, not shy about conversation. Though if I may be so bold as to say you'd make a fine recruit"

"I have a duty to protect my family and my home first. Perhaps another life" Rhiannon said, tapping her dads arm so he wouldn't say anything against their guest.

"I trust you will see to Duncan and his recruits needs while we're away?" she nodded to her dad "Very well, in that case I would like you to find Fergus and tell him to come speak with me. We need to go over some things before he leaves, I believe he'll be with his wife and son so that should make it easier"

"Understood dad"

"Stay safe pup" Rhiannon bowed to Rendon and Duncan, turning on her heels to leave the room.

It was a lovely day Rhiannon had to admit, the sun was shining through the outside areas of the castle that separated the varies sections of the building. She had a lot of memories of running through the estate, practicing fighting forms with Fergus and her father, learning archery with her mother. Though her favourite memory was when she was still quite young, Rendon was on one of his visits and he had brought his children and the four of them had spent the day together playing with Digby who was still but a pup then.

There was a clanking behind her as one of the guards was running to catch up with her. It was Ser Gilmore, looking a little distressed.

"Do you know where Digby is?" she asked

"He got into the larder, nan is furious"

"When is she ever not? Come on then, let's get my dog" Rhiannon retorted with annoyance, nan was one of the few servants that she struggled to get along with because of how easily she took her anger out on everyone around her. Rhiannon was willing to bet the only reason Digby was in the larder was to do the pest control that nan was incapable of doing.

"So I hear there's a grey warden here" Gilmore said in a leading fashion as he quickly followed Rhiannon as she stormed towards the kitchen

"Yeah, he wants to see if your capable of being a grey warden. Might even recruit you" she told him

"Wow, a grey warden, me? It's be a dream come true"

"Would be sad to see you go Gilmore" Rhiannon admitted, Gilmore had been around for many years, they'd even trained together a number of times. He was one of the few guards that would actually go all out in their sparring matches.

They arrived at the kitchen, met first by the sound of nan screaming at Digby and the elven kitchen hands. She could hear Digby moving around inside the larder but it didn't sound like he was eating anything. Sure enough when she pushed past nan, who tried screaming at her, into the larder Digby was sitting on his hind legs staring at a mouse hole. Which she assumed to be the source of the now dead rats surrounding Digby. She went over to her dog and gave him a pat on the head.

"Good boy, now let's get you out of here before nan finds something else to yell at you about" Digby barked happily as he bounded round Rhiannon's feet as she left the kitchen. Once again ignoring nan's rants as she went past, it did entertain her though when nan suddenly stopped sort and let out an oh noise as she must have realised Digby was in there protecting her food stores not eating it. Ser Gilmore took his leave then, possibly to prepare himself for meeting Duncan, leaving Rhiannon to continue on her way to find her brother with her dog at her side. Some way up the path she found her mother, who was conversing with her friend Landra, Rhiannon remembered the woman had a little too much to drink at their last get together. By her side was her lady in waiting Iona, a sweet but shy elf, and her son Dairren who Landra had made "subtle" suggestions Rhiannon could get better acquainted with.

Happily approaching her mother Rhiannon stood before her and her friends, the second her mum noticed her a giant smile crossed her face and she stepped forward taking her daughters hand and guiding her to do a twirl; showing off the new dress. She knew her mum would've been feeling sad about her husband and son heading off to war so Rhiannon was glad to have given her mum something to smile about.

"Darling, you remember Lady Landra and her son"

"Yes, it is good to meet you both again" Rhiannon said politely, feeling slightly uncomfortable around the family after last time.

"I don't believe you've met my lady in waiting, this is Iona"

"I have already met Iona, my lady. We met when we had to help you to your room" Rhiannon admitted bashfully, Landra coughed awkwardly as no one knew what to say to that.

"I think I shall retire to my room until supper, the journey did take a lot out of me" she eventually settled on

"I guess we will go visit the study for a time then, please do come see us if you've the time" Dairren offered as the three of them parted ways from them. Calmly her mum wrapped her arms around Rhiannon in a tight hug.

"What's this for?" Rhiannon asked confused.

"I sometimes forget you're growing up, here we are your father and brother off to war and I'm leaving too. We're leaving you in charge of Highever because we know you can keep everything together without us, and that's hard for a mother to acknowledge. That her child is all grown up and doesn't need to be looked after anymore" she said stepping back to take good long look at her daughter with a melancholy smile. "A feeling I'm certain you'll understand when you get round to giving me some grandchildren" she joked cupping Rhiannon's chin shaking her head a little "Now, you should go see your brother before he has to leave. He should be in his room with Oriana and Oren" she said letting go of Rhiannon and wandering off the wherever it was that she enjoyed spending her afternoons. With her dog in tow Rhiannon finished the last legs of the journey to the section of the castle that held her bedroom and the rooms her brother and his family resided.

The family were having a moment in their bedroom, Rhiannon lingered by the door as Fergus was telling his son in the friendliest terms he could use what was going on. While she wouldn't say in front of her mother, Rhiannon had to admit she was a little jealous that her brother managed to meet the love of his life and have a family. She knew deep down she wanted children, at least three maybe more and the only reason she hadn't said anything about her wish to anyone was because she simply hadn't met anyone she could see herself spending her life with. She simply didn't want to get her mum's hopes up for lots of grandchildren when Rhiannon herself had no idea when she would meet someone.

It would just have to do being an aunt to an admittedly slightly too energetic seven-year-old. Who had just noticed her standing in the doorway and was waving happily with a toothy grin, the boy had walked into the training grounds and knocked two of his teeth out on a shield.

"My favourite sister, come to see me off?" Fergus greeted her

"Father sent me with a message, he wants you to go on ahead without him cause Rendon's men are suffering delays, but I would've come anyway. Can't let you go off to battle without saying goodbye"

"Goodbye sounds so final sister, you know I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone" he jibbed light heartedly.

"Well, it will be a lot quieter on the training grounds. You know there's a grey warden here? He's looking to recruit Gilmore so I'm going to end up without anyone to have a decent sparing match with"

"A grey warden? Was he on a griffon?" Oren asked in awe

"Griffons only exist in stories, dear" Oriana said softly petting her son's hair.

"You can always ask Aidous to tell you some stories about the warden's, I'm sure he'd be glad to have another avid listener" Rhiannon told her nephew, at the very least it would keep him out of trouble if he was with the old historian. The door creaked open and their mum and dad walked in, Oren ran up to hug his grandmother who beamed at him with pride.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea darling" their mum said as the pair came up to stand beside them. The entire family in one place before they had to go to war, it was nice.

"You didn't think we'd come say goodbye to our son before he left did you?" her dad asked her noticing her arched eyebrow "and how else would we make sure you were all in the same place if I hadn't sent you with a message?"

"I'm sorry to see you leave, I'll pray for you every day you're gone" her mum said reaching out to hold her son's arm.

"He'll be fine mum, this is Fergus we're talking about he broke his arm and wanted to keep training" Rhiannon pointed out causing her family to laugh at the memory.

"Of course, we'll all be back within a month or two and everything will be back to normal. Though depending how well you do running things while we're gone we might make you ruling Highever a more permanent change" her dad suggested "I'm sure you'll be able to handle things, now pup I'd suggest you go for an early night. You have a lot to do tomorrow"

"Stay safe brother" Rhiannon said giving her brother, and then the rest of her family a hug before she headed for her room.

Sometime during the night something woke up Digby, as Rhiannon bolted straight into a sitting up position on hearing her dog barking manically at her bedroom door. As quickly as she could she pulled on a tunic and pants, with the couple of pieces of armour she could get on easily. Grabbing her sword just in time as her door was kicked open and two armed men stalked in, for a brief moment they looked surprised to see her standing with her sword ready. But that was replaced by anger as Digby lunged at one of them, knocking him to the ground aiming to rip his throat out. The other man came up to Rhiannon, swinging his sword violently forcing her back against the wall. She managed to lift her sword blocking an attack stopping him in his tracks, his face was mere inches from her face when she noticed the emblem on his armour. These were Howe's men. Rhiannon lifted one of her legs placing her foot flat against the wall, using it to push off the wall. When the man backed off she swung her leg forward kicking him in the chest. He slammed into the ground with a loud clang. Before he could move Rhiannon drove her sword into his abdomen. As much as she wanted to force some answers out of the man if they had made it to Rhiannon's room then likely she didn't have a lot of time to save anyone else so she twisted the sword pulling it out roughly letting the man bleed out quickly. She ran through the door coming face to face with three men coming out of Oriana and Oren's room, there swords were dripping with fresh blood.

Crossing the distance between them at the last second Rhiannon dropped to the ground swinging her legs around kicking the legs out from under one of the men, he let out a gasp as he fell to the ground. Rhiannon lifted her sword blocking another man's attempt to bring his sword down on her hear, she twisted around pushing off the balls of her feet back into a standing position still holding the man's sword at bay. When she was back up she jumped backwards letting the man's forward momentum pull him down, Rhiannon let out a yell as she lifted her sword above her head and slammed it into the man's exposed neck, it only got half way through the skin and muscle but she could see the bone now. She quickly kicked the man off her sword as Digby lunged, taking a hold of the man's head and finishing the job of removing it from his body. The sound of an arrow pierced the air, and in the next moment it was lodged in the third man's neck, then another in his side, then another and another until he collapsed to the floor. Knowing it was her mother at the other end of the bow she turned to the first man who had finally gotten back to his feet despite the heavy metal she knew some of Howe's men wore. She grabbed his shoulder, placed her sword at his neck and pulled him forwards, he gurgled pathetically as she pulled it back out slowly and shoved him back to the floor. Turning she saw her mum, dressed once more as the battle maiden she had told Rhiannon stories of being. She was armed with a bow that Rhiannon had only seen on display in her parents' bedroom.

"Thank the Maker you're safe darling, I heard the fighting and feared the worse. But I don't understand, why would Howe do this?" Rhiannon wanted to give her mum an answer but she simply didn't know what that would be, and there was something she needed to check first. Slowly, almost fearfully she approached the door to Oriana and Oren's room pushing it open just enough to see inside. The sight made her want to scream and cry but she held it in, if not for her mother's sake, as she didn't even need to enter to know for certain they were already dead. With a hollow feeling in her chest she closed the door on her sister in law and nephew turning to her mum who thankfully understood what had happened.

"He was just a child, what sort of monster would do something like this? We have to find your father, we have to get out of here before Howe's men kill us all" her mum said, even though she was trying to remain strong Rhiannon could hear something broken in her mum's voice that would never fully heal. They went through the door separating their bedrooms from the guest rooms, two men were standing there waiting. They looked surprised when they say Rhiannon and her mother but that quickly turned to horror as Digby leapt at them teeth bared. Rhiannon ran at one of the men, when he tried to swipe at her she grabbed his wrist with surprising ease and with her sword cut the man's arm off. He screamed for a few moments before passing out from shock. Behind her the other man screamed for much longer as he was peppered with arrows and being mauled by an angry mabari. From here Rhiannon could see into the guest room Landra was staying in with her son and Iona, Landra's body was lying on the ground surrounded by more blood than could just be hers. Rhiannon muttered a small prayer before ushering her mother out of the room quickly, hoping she wouldn't register the sight of her friend's dead body. As they ran down the cobbles the sound of screams and fighting echoed through the night air, before she got to far her mum grabbed her arm stopping her.

"You hear that? They must be everywhere, we have to find your father. He'll probably be at the gates, then we'll escape. We'll have to use the servants entrance in the larder" she explained

"What else can we do? Is there anything we need to keep out of Howe's men's hands? Help the others escape?"

"The family sword and shield, they're in the vault. Here take the key, we can at least save those but we may not have time to ferry everyone we come across to the exist. The servants know of the entrance they'd be heading straight there already" they took off running through the castle grounds, rounding a corner just as a group of Howe's men came round likely to make sure they were dead.

With her dog at her side and her mother standing bow at the ready behind her Rhiannon moved to meet the traitors, two tried attacking at the same time cleverly but Rhiannon dropped and rolled through the space between them. She tried swinging at the backs of their legs but misjudged the distance and only hit one of them. He stumbled forward though and Digby latched onto his sword are tearing into him. The second turned on his heels stabbing downwards, Rhiannon rolled backwards lifting her sword to block as she landed to near the other men. There was a thud as an arrow imbedded into the back of the man's neck, it looked like he was still breathing but he couldn't seem to move. Her hold on her sword slipped causing one of her attacker's blades to slide down landing in the ground just beside her head cutting her cheek. She twisted her wrist and stabbed upwards, hitting into the gap of the armour by his hip. When she pulled the sword out blood dripped down onto her face. In his pain the man stumbled back, bumping into the other two men giving Rhiannon enough time to get back to her feet; pushing off the momentum she moved forward stabbing the bleeding man through the chest. She called on Digby who leapt on one of the other men and started biting into his face. The final man tried running in new found terror but a succession of arrows landed in his back and he too soon fell.

They started running again until they reached the room that lead to the treasury, but when Rhiannon tried to open it the door wouldn't budge. In frustration she kicked the door in, and almost instantly had a blade driven through her skull. She stared at the blade that had stopped mere millimetres from her face. The owner was Atarah who had a look of relief on her face.

"You still live, thank the stars for that" she said lowering her weapon stepping away. At which point Rhiannon noticed the elf wasn't the only one in the room, four of the elven servant's nan's kitchen hands, one human servant and three children Rhiannon remembered seeing being taught by the Aidous along with a chantry sister. Some of them looked injured. "When the fighting started I rounded up as many as I could find, they said there's a servant's entrance but there were too many for me to fight without getting them patched up first" she explained, moving to close the now slightly broken door. "Guess we have no choice but to get moving now" she mumbled

"I'm sorry, the door sometimes gets stuck and we're needing into the vault. Thank you for protecting them" Rhiannon said moving to unlock the door to the family vault noticing that it had already been broken open, she turned back to ask Atarah about it

"I'm the only armed one of this group, I wanted to check for a different exist of something that could help keep these people safe so we could get to the exit" Atarah admitted "The children have daggers as a last resort, Ashihra and Ledis brought knives from the kitchen while Felhon and Sovin have some swords we got off some dead guards. Your chantry sister refuses to hold a weapon and Lucinda's got a broken wrist so she can't hold a weapon properly anyway. Everything else has been left untouched" Atarah said, sitting beside one of the children adjusting his grip on the small dagger

"You gave weapons to children?" Rhiannon's mother asked in shock while she went into the vault heading for the stand that held her family sword. It was a beautiful sword, the hilt was refined silver while the blade with a slightly iridescent metal, it had been in her family for generations and she had longed to hold it if in better circumstance. She strapped the Cousland shield to her back and tied the sword sheath around her waist.

"This is a massacre Teyrna Eleanor, children are not exempt from such acts of evil" Atarah said as Rhiannon walked back into the room. "I will get these people out of here and any others I can save"

"Thank you, Atarah. The larder isn't far from here but we need to find my father first, please, get anyone you can out of here" Rhiannon pleaded.

"May luck be on your side this night" Atarah said, signalling for the others to stand and follow her. When Rhiannon and her mother exited the room the group had already moved some distance, the girl did look like a spritely one so it made sense that the others would have to move so fast. With a last check to make sure the family sword was firmly attached to her side they started moving again. As they approached the main hall where they hoped they'd find her father the fighting was getting louder.

They burst through the door to find a battle going in full as Highever guards were fighting Howe's men, trying to push them back and close the door. Ser Gilmore was amongst them directing them as best he could, but Rhiannon could neither see her father or the grey warden. Rhiannon hastily joined the fray, stabbing her sword into the side of a man attacking Gilmore. Another got a lucky hit stabbing deep into her leg, thankfully falling far enough away from a point in her thigh that would have put her out of commission. Angrily she elbowed the man in the face, blood exploded out of his nose. She turned her arm so her sword was pointed behind her and rammed it into the man's gut. He collapsed along with the others.

Once the last of the men had been dispatched by the guards some of them sprinted for the main door, shoving it closed pulling the bar down and putting their own weight behind it. From the loud thuds that came from behind it Rhiannon got the impression that not only was there a lot of men behind that door, but that they also had a battering ram. Their men wouldn't be able to hold that door forever, and then there'd be no chance to escape.

"Thank the Maker you and the Teyrna are safe, the Teryn went to look for you. We tried to stop him cause he's been hurt but he was determined to make sure you were safe" Gilmore explained

"Which way did he go?" her mother asked worriedly.

"Towards the kitchen. You best hurry, the both of you. We can't hold this forever but we'll give you as much time as we can" at her feet Digby glumly whimpered, nudging at Gilmore's leg, he smiled sadly and petted the dogs head.

"Maker protect you" Rhiannon said taking one last look at her friend, knowing it would be the last time. There was no time for a proper greeting though, as she and her mother ran for the kitchen.

The sight that awaited them made her blood run cold, her father was curled up on the floor in a pool of his own blood. His shirt had been stained red, while his skin had turned deathly pale, he was barely conscious as they knelt at his side. Gently her mum took a hold of her husband's head and rested it on her lap.

"Bryce? My love? It's us, we're safe, we can escape" she said, Digby nudged at Rhiannon's arm wanting her to get moving.

"Eleanor? Pup? Oh, you're alive, I'm so relieved. I hoped I'd see you again" he said in a quiet, weak voice.

"Yes, we're here now father. We're going to get out of here" Rhiannon said, wanting to deny the truth just a little bit longer.

"I'm sorry pup but I can't, I can barely stand, you'd never be able to get out before Howe's men find us"

"No, we're not just leaving you here. We can get you help, find you a healer" her mum pleaded with her husband, he gave her a soft loving look.

"My love, the castle is surrounded. With me you would not escape, and you need to find Fergus, tell him what happened and stop Howe from triumphing from this chaos and betrayal" he winced, clutching at his side.

"The Teryn speaks the truth, as it stands it will be incredibly difficult to escape as it is even with Howe's men barred at the door" Duncan said as he walked in, the man was coated in a thick layer of blood. There was no sign of Atarah with him though and Rhiannon found herself feeling concerned for her safety.

"You are Duncan yes?" her mum asked, he nodded.

"Where's Atarah?" Rhiannon asked, Digby barked his concern

"When I brought your father here I sent her ahead with the survivors she'd rounded up"

"Duncan… please, get my wife and daughter to safety" her dad begged

"I will, but I must ask something in return. The darkspawn threat is imminent and the risk demands I bring as many recruits as I can. I will bring your wife and daughter to Ostagar but in exchange I will recruit your daughter into the grey wardens" Rhiannon and Digby stared at the man in shock, they couldn't believe he was using this horrible massacre of Rhiannon's family and protection for her and her mother's escape to recruit her.

"I, I understand. And accept your terms" her dad said in resignation

"Get us out of here and I'll be one of your wardens" Rhiannon gritted out seeing no other option that would ensure their escape.

"Go, make your mark on the world pup. Make sure Howe pays for what he has done"

"Survive darling, you'll have a better chance of escaping without me" her mum said

"Eleanor, no"

"Hush my love, I made a promise to stay by your side and I will keep it. I will buy our daughter as much time as I can and I will not abandon you"

"Mother… father… I love you" Rhiannon finally managed to choke out as she stood up beside Duncan.

"Do us proud pup, know that we'll always love you, now go" her father ordered her. Turning her back Rhiannon passed through the servant's entrance, not daring to turn back lest she lose the strength to leave her parents. Knowing that they were going to die and she would never see them again, not even to bury them.


	6. Chapter 6 Mahalath Mahariel

Mahalath: A lithe and limber elf with jet black hair that falls to her waist, dark eyes that pierce the dark when hunting. She bares scars from early hunting attempts and the markings of Mythal on her face like most of her clan.

The woods were silent, as they usually were. The sunlight was mostly blocked by the trees but enough light got through that Mahalath could see clearly in all directions from her perch in one of the taller trees. She enjoyed the calmness of the forest, this had been her favourite camp site so far and it saddened her that they would be moving on soon but such was the way of things. There was a rustle in one of the bushes as a rabbit jumped out. Taking a deep breath Mahalath pulled back the string of her bow, aimed, and fired. The animal let out a brief squeal as the arrow pierced its lungs but it flopped to the ground along with the others Mahalath had already killed this morning. Her task for the day was to gather as much fresh meat as she could find within the area, some days she found herself wanting more of a challenge such as a bear or bandits harassing the group but today she was enjoying the simplicity. She fastened her bow to her back, quickly climbing down the tree to collect the rabbits she'd killed so far. She tied twine around the four rabbit's necks, holding them together as she then tied them to her belt.

In the distance Mahalath heard approaching footsteps, with graceful ease she climbed back part way up the tree. She cocked her bow aiming in the direction of the sound, ready for any shemlens that were venturing too close to their camp. Instead of one, out from the trees came Tamlen. Steadily Mahalath secured her bow and lined herself above where Tamlen was, and dropped down landing on top of his pining him on his back.

"If you were a shemlen you'd be dead" she said matter of factly

"Just as well I'm not then" he countered, not making any attempt to either get up or get Mahalath off him. She knew of his attraction for her, and admittedly Mahalath had never been that comfortable with physical contact so maybe he was just enjoying the exceptionally rare close proximity. "How's the hunting?" he asked

"The area is thin of food, I should have returned early but it's nice out here"

"It is, isn't it?" Tamlen said, staring at Mahalath intently, he moved to sit up and she could've sword he meant to kiss her but she quickly rolled off him jumping to her feet. He looked a little crestfallen but didn't say anything. "The Keeper sent me to find you, she's heard rumours about the forest that she wants to talk to you about"

"Very well, let us be off" Mahalath said waiting for her companion to stand up beside her, she reached over and coiled her pinkie finger around his. Holding hands felt strange to her but she wanted to share some affection with her companion, together they walked back to the camp. Perhaps taking a bit longer than necessary, as they took the time to just enjoy each other's company.

The Sabrae clan had been camped here for a few months now, there were few clear flat area's in this forest that were large enough for their caravans, tents and halla but they had managed. There was a sectioned off area where Maren was looking after the halla, she was nice enough if a bit shy. They only subject you could really get her talking about was the halla which got repetitive after a while. One of the halla pottered over to the fence as Mahalath passed, nudging her arm with its nose. This one was Mahalath's favourite, she went and gently petted the animals neck, the fur soft under her calloused hands. There was a deliberate sounding cough behind her, standing there was Ilen the clans craftsman. She untied the rabbits from her belt and handed them over to him, in exchange he handed her a bow. It was beautifully crafted, it was made from a sturdy wood with detailing carved into the surface looking like tree roots. A sturdy long range bow, likely to withstand a lot more force than her current one. It had been her birthday a few days ago, Ilen had been ill and told her he needed a few more days to finish his present for her, she guessed this was it. She took off her old bow setting it against the halla pen fence and strapped the new one on it its place, it was heavier than she was used to but she'd get used to it. She looked over to the practice area, Junar and Fenarel were practicing their archery skills along with a city elf that arrived not long ago named Pol. The elf had next to no skill with a bow, she doubted the elves in the city had a surplus of weapons available to them and what need would they have for a long-range weapon. He wasn't the most talkative but he spoke positive about some of the others in the alienage, but wouldn't go into detail about what drove him to find them.

Heading over the practise area she calmly readjusted the new clan members grip on the bow and aim, she admitted she wasn't the best archer the camp had, that honour went to Ashalle even if the woman didn't actively go out hunting anymore; still she was skilled enough to help Pol. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Merrill approaching, the young elf had been her friend since early childhood, albeit there being little options in their small groups, even so her absence had been noticed as she had been spending more time studying with the Keeper and practicing her magic.

"You shouldn't keep Keeper Marethari waiting, she really wants to talk to you" she said with a slight stutter, not something Merrill was known for and it only occurred when she was speaking with Mahalath.

"If you insist" Mahalath said walking past Merrill, she didn't see what the hurry was or what could be so important to ask her to return from a hunt when food could still be found. However, it wasn't wise to test the Keepers patience. She found her waiting patiently at the entrance to one of their caravans, the one reserved for carrying the children when they were travelling but at the moment it was being used if anyone fell ill. The Keeper was an older woman, she had been the clan Keeper for as long as Mahalath could remember. She knew she was skilled with magic, and had mastered the skill of making everyone feel guilty about something they've done. Though that ability had worn off on Mahalath.

"There you are Da'len, I was expecting your arrival sooner though perhaps I should not have sent Tamlen to retrieve you" she said, Mahalath felt the urge to glare at her for the implication as the Keeper was fully aware of Mahalath's aversion to being touched but managed to keep her face blank as she waited for the Keeper to continue speaking. "One of the young ones ventured too far into the forests, he says he spotted some humans running though looking suspicious. I would ask you to track them down and find out why they are here" she explained. Shemlens in the forest, it didn't normally end well when they found their camps. At best, they would passively try to get them to leave, at worse they'd attack the camp. Mahalath gave a signal acknowledging her acceptance of the task, as she ventured forth back into the forest.

It didn't take long to find signs of the shemlens, clumsy and careless as they were, the ground had been disturbed branches broken or shifted unnaturally. They looked to be heading deeper into the forest, not in the direction of the camp though at least but it wouldn't hurt to make sure they wouldn't stumble on their camp on their way back to the nearby village. After following the tracks for ten minutes she still hadn't found the shemlens, though she was aware of someone coming up behind her. She stopped for a few minutes to allow Tamlen to catch up, maybe since she was taking so long he had gotten worried and come after her. It took another ten minutes before they finally reached the end of the shemlens trail, it ended at the mouth of a strange cave. The area was strangely silent, the air felt wrong somehow. Screams echoed inside the cave causing Mahalath to draw her bow, mere moments later three shemlens came running out looking terrified they only just stopped on seeing her and Tamlen when they were about to run straight into them.

"By the Maker it's the Dalish" one of them gasped as he was staring down Mahalath's bow. They were sweaty and pale, visibly shaking and weak at the knees, whatever was inside the cave had clearly scared them out of their wits. They didn't appear to be armed at least but Mahalath wasn't inclined to grant leniency towards shemlens, it never ended well trying to treat them with a level of curtesy they never returned.

"And you are somewhere you don't belong" Tamlen said coldly

"We never dealt with Dalish before, we didn't know this was your forest, please just let us go? We didn't want to cause any trouble we just heard about this cave and wanted to look for ourselves" the villager said shakily.

"So you can come back with more of your kind and attack us? We've been down that path before" Tamlen told the group

"Please, we just want to go home. We swear we won't come back or tell anyone you're here, please just let us go. Here take this, it's all we found in the cave before these things attacked us" one said handing them a stone slab as some sort of piece offering.

"What do you say?" Tamlen asked turning to Mahalath.

"Begone from our sights, you leave with your lives today but make my words if we see you or any of your shems here again they will not be so fortunate" Mahalath warned them not wanting to waste the energy in killing or maiming these men, as much as she distrusted humans and preferred avoiding them she wasn't so inclined to kill them without due cause. The group thanked them profusely and took off running back in the direction they had come from.

Leaving Mahalath and Tamlen standing at the entrance to the cave, in all the time the clan had been there none of the scouts or hunters had found this. Making it stranger how the humans had heard of it and come to investigate it first. The tablet that they had given them appeared to have Tamlen's keen interest, it was carved with what looked like writing but none that Mahalath could recognise or read.

"Elven, written elven? Could it be possible?" Tamlen asked in disbelief.

"We should take this to the Keeper, she'll know" she turned to leave but Tamlen remained planted where he was, swapping between eyeing the stone tablet and the entrance to the cave. Always the adventures type compared to Mahalath's more reserved nature, she recognised the curiosity in his posture and knew he wanted to go inside the cave. She knew from experience that if had already decided to explore the cave then there was little she could say to convince him not to. "Tamlen, you saw those men. There is something dark in those caves"

"Come on those were just pathetic shems, they have no spin to speak of. It'll be fine" he reassured her already walking into the cave entrance. With an annoyed sigh Mahalath followed, better to fight together than let him fight alone and get himself hurt.

Inside the cave, it felt like entering an entirely new world, there was light in the place but it looked unnatural and Mahalath couldn't pin point an actually source that it could have been coming from. The air smelled of dust and age, as though the place had been left alone and untouched for many years. There was something else, something sinister, it was as though the cave itself bled a darkness that simply didn't belong with the rest of the forest. Sound was another strange thing in the cave, when they spoke they could hear each other but the sound didn't echo the way it should in such space.

Slowly they worked their way through the cave, Mahalath had her bow drawn while Tamlen had his sword at the ready. She was half expecting something to jump out of the shadows but nothing did, perhaps whatever lingered here was waiting in the furthest point into the cave where they had no chance to run like its last visitors. They reached a large door near the back of the cave, there was a strange rumbling sound coming from behind it, similar to a beast growling but at the same time not at all. Mahalath took a few steps backwards, aiming her bow towards the door as Tamlen prepared to open it. He was harshly thrown back as a demonic beast burst through the door, it had the shape of a bear but it was corrupted it looked like it was dead and decaying with bits of bone and rotten flesh poking through the skin and fur. Its canines were horribly oversized kept its mouth open as saliva dripped down its face. It roared and leapt at Mahalath, she let loose an arrow quickly rolling out of the way.

Getting to her knees Mahalath nocked and let off a succession of three arrows that stuck into its side yet the bear barely reacted. Tamlen ran up and tried stabbing the bear in between its shoulder blades, the bear let out a feral growl as it violently shook from side to side even as Tamlen held onto his sword and was limply shaken around as well until he lost his grip and went flying across the room. The bear prepared to lunge again and Mahalath knew she didn't have enough time to shoot another arrow so with her free hand she pulled a knife out from her belt. The bear jumped, Mahalath managed to step back but it suddenly swiped at her. Searing pain shot through her body as its claws slashed into her abdomen, with a scream of pain she drove her knife into the bears eye socket. It backed off staggering around in pain as Mahalath collapsed on the ground, her stomach was bleeding a lot but thankfully it wasn't deep enough for her insides to start falling out. Biting down the pain Mahalath loaded another arrow, a special one designed to carve chunks out of tree barks, and fired. It caught the bears neck, it dropped to the floor gargling and twitching. Tamlen quickly moved up to it, pulling his sword free before repeatedly stabbing it until it stopped moving.

There was a look of horror on Tamlen's face as he ran over to Mahalath, he cupped the back of her neck guiding her as she lay flat on her back. She handed him her flint stones while she held some spare cloth she carried around to stop the bleeding while Tamlen started a small fire with the bits of wood in the cave, resting his sword over it to heat the metal. When it was heated, they swabbed away most of the blood and Tamlen pressed the burning metal onto the cuts on her stomach, she screamed but knew it was necessary. When it was done they carefully wrapped some cloth around her waist tightly, it would stop the bleeding until they could get back to camp and the Keeper could heal her properly. After helping her stand up Tamlen walked over to the door that the bear had come out of, Mahalath sighed and slowly limped after him.

"I'm sorry you got hurt, I'll make it up to you" he said softly, Mahalath gave him a smile despite the immense pain she was in. Inside the room the bear was guarding was a strange mirror, with certainty Mahalath knew this was the source of the dark feeling in the cave, this was what had corrupted and warped the bear. Even so Tamlen was unaffected by the feeling as he walked up the small steps leading to the mirror. "It's beautiful" he said almost mesmerized.

"Tamlen, we should leave"

"Just a closer look" he said stepping closer to the mirror "There! Did you see that? Somethings moving in the reflection"

"Tamlen please can we go?" Mahalath pleaded, suddenly feeling the air shifting violently

"Mahalath?! There's something in the mirror! It sees me! I can't move!" he yelled fearfully, Mahalath moved as quickly as her wound would allow grabbing Tamlen's arm. All of a sudden everything started ringing and all went black.

When Mahalath awoke she was no longer in the cave, but rather the caravan used for the unwell back at camp. She touched her stomach and felt scar tissue, three large claw marks, but at least they had been healed even if they left a permanent mark. Slowly she sat up, even then the movement made her head swim. Using the walls of the caravan for support Mahalath carefully guided herself outside, the sun burned her eyes for a few moments before adjusting. It was early morning, she must have been out for at least a day in that case. Near the big fire the camp had set up were two people that Mahalath didn't recognise, another elf woman but a city one judging by the lack of vallaslin, the other a shemlen woman. Cautiously Mahalath walked up to them.

"Who are you?" Mahalath asked, the newcomers looked at her with friendly faces and a look of relief. The human looked strangely familiar to Mahalath but she couldn't figure out why.

"Atarah Tabris, I'm from Denerim, friend of Pol's oddly enough" the elf in the wedding dress greeted.

"I am Rhiannon Cousland. It is good to see you up and about, you've been asleep for two days now. Oh here you should have this" the human said reaching down to pick up a water skin and piece of bread that were sitting on a small table at her feet, and handed them to Mahalath who just stared at her blankly. Despite her confusion Mahalath gladly took a drink and a bite, the thirst and hunger now kicking in with the proximity of food and water. "We're here with a grey warden called Duncan, he sensed darkspawn in the area and it led us to you. We brought you back here and your Keeper healed you"

"Why are you telling me this?" Mahalath asked between bites of bread

"You were barely conscious when we found you outside the cave, you'd lost a lot of blood I figured maybe you wouldn't remember who we were or what happened" Rhiannon explained

"Outside the cave? I was inside when I got knocked out"

"You were sort of awake when we found you, we just assumed you'd dragged yourself out of there" Atarah said, a wave of panic clicked in Mahalath's head.

"What about Tamlen? Is he alright?" she asked

"Who?" Atarah asked back

"Tamlen, my friend, he was with me exploring that cave where is he now?"

"We only found you, I'm sorry. Duncan went back to the cave, we can wait for him to come back or go to him and see if he's found any trace of your friend. He only asked us to wait to make sure you were okay" Rhiannon said, there was a tone in her voice that Mahalath noticed, empathy.

"You've lost someone close to you, haven't you?" Mahalath knew the answer when Rhiannon's expression fell and her head dropped slightly "You don't have to answer, I'm just not used to receiving sympathy from shemlens"

"Mahalath!" Merrill and Fenarel shouted as they ran across the camp to see her, with Keeper Marethari walking calmly behind them. They all looked happy to see her.

"It is good to see you are feeling better Da'len" the Keeper said when they reached her

"Tamlen, he's not here. He could be hurt, I need to go find him" Mahalath told her

"You've only just woken up though, are you sure you're well enough to travel so far?" Fenarel asked with a look of concern

"I need to find him" she insisted

"Very well Da'len, but please take Merrill with you. Her knowledge may be helpful to you"

"I'll go to, in your state you won't be able to use a bow as well as usual" Fenarel volunteered.

"We should come along too, we're Duncan's recruits so we should regroup with him" Atarah said. That brought their numbers to five, it seemed strange going through the forest with so many, especially a human but Mahalath knew she wasn't in a good enough state to go by herself even if she wasn't so inclined to admit it.

Together they left the camp, Mahalath guided them back along the path she'd taken to get to the cave in the first place. There was a shriek as strange creatures ran through the forest at them, Mahalath drew her bow and started firing. When she pulled the bow taunt pain shot through her stomach causing her to buckle. Rhiannon came up at her side, pressing her shield into Mahalath's back straightening her back up to fire before charging down one of the creatures. With so many people the creatures quickly feel.

"What in creations were those? Were, were those darkspawn?" Fenarel asked breathless.

"Yeah, that's what Duncan told us" Atarah confirmed

"Mahalath? Are you feeling alright?" Merrill asked sounding worried, all eyes turned to her.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're looking a little pale is all" Merrill said "Maybe we should take you back to camp"

Mahalath shook her head and pressed on ahead of the group giving the others no choice but to follow her, she'd been unconscious for two days without food or water that was why she wasn't on top form she reasoned. It didn't take them long to reach the entrance of the cave, the sense of dread from inside the cave had somehow seeped out into the area just outside the entrance. Part of Mahalath wanted to turn and run but a bigger part of her wanted to go in and find Tamlen. So she charged in, despite the call of concern from those with her. Inside were more of those darkspawn creatures, the shrieked and ran at them. In a blur Atarah ran past and jumped through the air at one of them, she landed on one pining it to the ground with her blades.

The human quickly ran up, shielding Atarah from an attack attempt reaching her arm around to stab into its side. When the creature crumpled, Rhiannon reached back to help Atarah to her feet. A burst of magical energy shot out from Merrill's staff, smacking into another two darkspawn, Mahalath quickly fired her bow pushing down the pain it caused as it hit the remaining darkspawn. They continued through the caves towards the room that they had found the mirror in. Standing in the room was another human, staring intently at the mirror. Mahalath assumed this must be the Duncan the others were speaking of. Looking around the room there was no sign of Tamlen, no body meant there was still a chance he was alive. While Rhiannon and Atarah held back in the hallway, looking around as though expecting more of those things to appear and even Mahalath had to admit it was reassuring having someone guarding their backs. Merrill walked up to the mirror and started examining it closely, Mahalath felt her breath quicken as the image of Tamlen standing completely enraptured by the mirror flared up in her mind. The human turned to look at Mahalath with a strange expression, she could have sworn he looked confused as to how she was there standing before him.

"I see your Keepers skills with healing were not exaggerated, still I am surprised to see you recovered" he said

"Our Keepers skills are great, we are all grateful her skills have cured our friend" Fenarel told him slighting bragging

"I'm afraid this mirror is corrupted with the taint, it must have been released somehow and caused your sickness. However, as well as your Keeper has done, she has only weakened the sickness not cured it. I can already sense it returning" Duncan said remorsefully, Mahalath heard Merrill and Fenarel speak out against what he was saying convinced that their Keeper had done enough to save Mahalath's life but she knew it wasn't true. And if her conditioned had been so severe as to leave her unconscious for a few days, what did that mean for Tamlen.

"There was another with me when we found the cave. My friend Tamlen, you haven't found him, have you?" Mahalath asked despite knowing the answer.

"You were alone when we found you, and I have found no sign of this Tamlen. And I'm sorry but I don't believe I will find anything"

"Thank you for helping me back to my clan, we should return. If I am due to die I would rather spend what time I have left with them before the sickness claims me"

"There may be something we can do, though I will need to speak with your Keeper first. There is one more thing I must do, this mirror is tainted and will only bring more evil if it remains" he pulled his sword off his back and approached the window, Merrill backed off but she looked marginally horrified at what he was doing as he raised his sword and shattered the mirror to pieces. Calmly he put his sword away and walked out of the room followed by Fenarel and Merrill, Mahalath took a moment to stare at the now hollow mirror. It broke her heart that something had happened to Tamlen and that they didn't even have a body to bring back to the camp for funeral rites. With regret she followed the rest of the group out of the cave back towards the camp.

The grey warden went straight to have a private conversation with the Keeper, the two went inside the caravan leaving everyone else to just wait. Merrill quietly went to sit near Paivel who was telling the younger members of the clan stories, while Fenarel gave Mahalath a long sad look before he went to the training area with the other hunters. It was proving a bad day for the clan, and her friends to have lost Tamlen and now to know that they will lose her as well. There was a pat sound running towards them, Mahalath was about to draw her bow when she heard the familiar sound of a dog barking.

"Ah there you are, was starting to wonder when you'd get back. I know this is a new place for you but you've got to stop running off so much" Rhiannon said, kneeling down to pet and hug the mabari. "This is Digby my mabari, he's never been to such an expansive forest before" she explained, Mahalath walked over and knelt down beside the mabari, slowly reaching out to rub behind the dog's ears. She'd never been this close to one before, the mabari seemed to enjoy the attention as he leaned into it. It did make her a little happier though, just the simple act of petting a dog.

"I'm sorry about your friend" Atarah said sadly

"Thank you. And thank you for your part in bringing me back here, even if it didn't save me"

"We do what we can, that's all we can do" Rhiannon said. Slowly Mahalath stood back up walking away, she went to the halla pen and beckoned her favourite to approach so she could pet him. Looking around the camp she noticed everyone's face slowly fall as the realisation of her and Tamlen's fate set in. There numbers were so few to begin with to be losing two at once was a painful blow to the clan, they would be holding funeral rites for Tamlen soon and Mahalath hoped she'd last until then at least. She turned to the caravan to see Duncan and Keeper Marethari stepping back out, the Keeper looked resigned like she'd made a decision about something but wasn't happy about it. They looked over to Mahalath expectantly asking for her to come over, so she did.

"Your Keeper and I have come to an arrangement, my order can provide you with a cure to your sickness but you must join our order in exchange" the human said

"You made this deal without consulting me?" Mahalath asked angrily

"We could not see you suffer and perish Da'len, the grey wardens can heal the taint in your veins. The darkspawn are returning and the order could value from your aid" the Keeper explained

"So I lose Tamlen and now I'm going to lose my clan because my Keeper has decided to send me to the wardens without asking what I want? What if my choice is to remain and die with my clan, my family instead of living with strangers fighting darkspawn?" Mahalath snapped

"Please Da'len, if there is a way to save you we must take it"

"You won't give me a choice. Fine. I'll join. But I will remain here until after Tamlen's funeral, that is not up for debate" Mahalath said firmly.

"Very well, that is understandable" Duncan said

"Come Da'len, let us embrace you one last time" the Keeper said lifting her arms to hug her, but Mahalath pushed the Keepers arms away as she walked away.

That night the clan gathered to burn a funeral pyre for Tamlen, the Keeper and Paivel took turns speaking the funeral rites. Fenarel was sitting to her left, he was the first Mahalath told about the wardens offer but he hadn't said anything since. Merrill was at the Keepers side, her rightful place as her first, she had shut down on hearing Mahalath would be leaving. It must be hard for her, Mahalath worried that Merrill wouldn't be able to make new friends without her there and would end up secluding herself to her studies. As soon as the morning sun rose again Mahalath would have to leave, Atarah and Rhiannon had tried to reassure her that it wouldn't be too bad but it rang a little hollow. Finally Mahalath let her tears fall as she watched the fire embers float up into the night sky.

Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the first batch of chapters for this series so you can get a feel for all the characters and which you like best, there will be a tiny break until the next batch of chapters are all written to come out in bulk, thanks for reading :-) and if you want to check out what all the characters you can find them on my tumblr at kio453 :-)


	7. The Warden Apperances

Not a chapter but I wanted to try and get a better description of what everyone looks like as I am not the most skilled at drawing.

Rhiannon Cousland: The twenty-four-year-old daughter of Bryce and Eleanor Cousland and younger sister to Fergus. She stands at 5"6 in height with hazel brown hair cut to just level with her chin, with light oak coloured eyes. Like her mother, she has a round love heart shaped face with a button nose and thin lips, though she gets her eyes from her father. She has a strong physique with toned muscles all over, meaning she doesn't have the thin waist and wide hips and a notably less prominent bust that the other noble women her age and older have. Due to the rush in escaping her home Rhiannon didn't have as much armour as preferable, having just leg and arm plates, and a smell chest piece that comes to just above her abdomen over plain trousers and a tunic. The chest piece bears the mark of the Cousland family. Her weapon of choice is a sword and shield. Her shield like her armour has the Cousland crest on it while the sword is the Cousland family sword, a sword that has been with her family for generations with a silver handle and white metal blade that resonates with magic.

Atarah Tabris: The only child of Cyrion and Adaia Tabris, Atarah is 5"1 inches tall and twenty-one years of age. She is said to take heavily after her other with shoulder length, naturally wavy light blonde hair and baby blue eyes. She has a more angular face with a round chin, a slightly pointy nose and narrow eyes. Due to her circumstance and training she has a slight, petite figure with a strong core and feminine figure that makes her nimble and agile. She still wears her wedding dress a flowing now grey dress that goes down to below her knees with three quarter length sleeves, as it was specially made by her father to allow free movement and provide support and protection in the form of reinforced sturdy material, and she hasn't felt the need to change to something else. She has since repaired her boots and acquired black leather bracers to add to her attire. Her weapon of choice is twin blades that she herself made with a simple handle wrapped in black leather and silver metal for the blades.

Dinah Surana: Her parentage is unknown to Dinah and her age being seventeen is only an approximation as Dinah had forgotten what day her birthday was on. Even for an elf Dinah is smaller than most standing at 4"7 ½, she's unusually pale with pixie cut length white hair with one long braided strand on the right side of her head that comes to her chin. She has large harlequin green eyes, a small nose and a near constant smile on her face. Like all elves her ears are pointed but hers are noted to be a little longer than average. Her clothes were a gift from Cadfael, consisting of simple black leggings, a plain black dress with an aqua blue overdress that is open at the front like a coat lined at the front edges and around the top of both biceps with white ribbon and tied at the front with loose black ribbons. The dress sits above her knees with loose fitting full length sleeves, the shoes she has since lost. She also wears a pendant she received as a gift from Cullen. Dinah is a mage but she doesn't use a staff to channel her magic just using her hands, more complex and powerful spells though she will use the help of Reginald the toy bear that she brought to life.

Cadfael Amell: Eldest child of Revka Amell at twenty-five years of age, Cadfael bears the strong recurring characteristics of the Amell family. Jet black hair, dark brown eyes, strong jawline and magical ability. He also has a short beard to go with his shaggier sitting hair. An imposing man Cadfael is just shy of 6 feet tall, with broad shoulders and muscle ensuring no one considers him lanky. He wears a simple pair of black trousers and a purple shirt over which he wears a long black leather jacket with a purple in lay with thin belts strapped around his biceps and shoulders holding his jacket in place. Instead of a staff Cadfael uses a longsword as a conduit for his magic as well as used in the usual sense so he doesn't have to rely on his magic at all times.

Sigurd Brosca: The youngest child of Kaylah and the younger brother to Rica, Sigurd is twenty-three years old standing at 4"6. He has chestnut shaggy unkempt hair and beard that's edges are permanently stained with grey by dust. Years of working for Beraht and fighting for his life nearly every day have left Sigurd with a stocky frame and very large prominent muscles and scars covering most of his body and face along with the brand of the casteless on his cheek. There isn't anything special about his armour as its second-hand metal that's since been dented and scratched. Though his axe is of a more refined metal that he stole from the blacksmith caste and used to make his own weapon.

Brynja Aeducan: The 4"5 second eldest and only daughter of the King of Orzammar Brynja has the presence and posture of a princess. She has short bobbed reddish brown hair that naturally curls at the bottom. Her face is very rounded and she has large grey eyes with a couple of small tattoos just on her cheeks below her eyes. Under her armour Brynja has a naturally curvy figure with "child bearing hips" and a "bountiful bosom" according to the more outspoken women in Orzammar. She lost her own weapons and armour when she was exiled but was given a good quality sword and shield by Harrowmont before she was sent into the Deep roads. As well she acquired a new set of standard armour when she arrived in Ostagar and plans to get a new set when finances and time allow.

Mahalath Mahariel: Nineteen years old Mahalath only recently received her vallaslin which is in tribute to Mythal. A lithe and limber 5 feet tall woman Mahalath has solid muscles in her arms and stomach making it easy for her to climb fast and handle high tension bows. She's naturally tanned from spending nearly her entire life outside, and jet black hair that goes all the way down to her waist which she leaves tied up most of the time. Her eyes are very dark almost black in shade and she has the odd scar on her body from years of hunting and living in the woods. Her armour consists of blackened leather cuirass that leaves her stomach exposed along with shorts, brown leather knee high boots and a brace on her left forearm. She also has light green material strapped to her belt as a half skirt but it's a decorative taste.


	8. Chapter 7 Arrival

Atarah had heard stories of the grey wardens, and of Ostagar. Though she had never thought she'd find herself in such a place. While it was a ruin, the building was still expansive and more beautiful than anything she'd ever seen, with its aged white stone, tall tower and intriguing design structure. Their recruiter had filled them in on the details as they travelled here from Mahalath's camp, Cailan's forces had already stopped two waves of darkspawn and were planning a last stand of sorts. Though Duncan was unconvinced of their success, he thought the King was acting a little too confident and enamoured with the romanticism of fighting the formidable darkspawn with the legendary grey wardens at his side. He said there were a great number of soldiers and grey warden forces camped inside the ruin walls, Cailan was meant to be at his tent discussing battle strategy with his advisor one Logain Mac Tir. He'd also told them about the other recruits that would be waiting for them, Cadfael and Dinah two mages from the circle and Sigurd and Brynja dwarfs from Orzammar. It had been an easy enough journey getting there, though Atarah had to admit Mahalath was looking bad. Her skin was deathly pale and she kept getting distracted, hopefully they'd get her the cure soon. At the entrance a man with blonde hair regal gold armour with what looked more like guards than soldiers at his back.

"Duncan! Glad you could make it back, when you sent your forward squad without you I was starting to get worried you'd miss all the fighting" the man greeted enthusiastically.

"Well met King Cailan, I had some urgent matters to attend to. Arl Eammon says his forces should arrive in a weeks' time" Duncan told him

"And I see you've brought some more recruits with you, hello it's good to meet you"

"Rhiannon Cousland, it's an honour to meet you King Cailan" Rhiannon greeted, bowing formally, Digby barked happily beside her.

"Cousland? Thought I recognised you, we sent your brother out with a scouting party"

"I need to speak with him as soon as possible. Howe, he betrayed us. I need to let him know about our famlies death"

"By the Maker, you have my deepest sympathies. I promise once this battle is over Howe will be punished for what he has done"

"I just want to see my brother right now" Rhiannon said insistently

"I'm afraid we can't get a message to him right now but we will as soon as possible. And who are your friends?"

"I'm Atarah, I'm from Denerim. This is Mahalath of the Sabrae clan" Atarah said seeing as Mahalath didn't look so inclined to speak to the man. "I feel I should tell you, there are evil people in your city. Your Arl's son hurt my friends"

"My lord if I may, we have had a long journey. There are things you should know but for now I think it would be best if my recruits head into camp and meet the others" he gave the three of them a stern look at tilted his head towards the bridge.

Together they walked across the bridge, half way though Mahalath stopped. Off the bridge, they could see a small expanse of green land leading to a dense looking forest. The Korcari Wilds, strange and dark tales surrounded that place but from up here it looked nice. It also looked like the perfect space to stage a battle, which was probably exactly what was going to happen. Atarah briefly wondered if they were expected to fight in the battle, in any case it was probably the best course of action to go find the other recruits. They continued on into the camp, walking past the soldiers and mage tents. There were two mages that weren't practicing with the others, one a tall dark haired man the other a petite white haired elf girl. When they approached the young elf, who Atarah noticed was carrying a toy bear for some reason, noticed them and this bright warm smile came up on her face. She promptly ran over closing the remaining distance between them, almost instantly she dropped to the ground and started fussing Digby who seemed more than happy to be receiving the affection. The man she was with calming walked over, his expression was stoic but his eyes looked on her with familial affection.

"Cadfael Amell, this is Dinah Surana. We come from the circle at lake Calenhad, they don't allow pets. I apologise for this one's enthusiasm for seeing one" the man explained

"Oh I don't mind, Digby likes attention. So you're mages?" Rhiannon asked sounding genuinely intrigued rather than wary as Atarah saw most react to mages.

"Yes. Though some people here keep getting surprised at that"

"It's probably because you have a sword on your back not a staff" Atarah pointed out, at their feet Dinah let out a laugh, she was tempted to ask the girls age as she seemed too young.

"It's a conduit, a sword is more practical. More recruits, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Atarah, this is Rhiannon and Mahalath. Duncan said there were two more?"

"Brynja and Sigurd. They're around here somewhere, say did Duncan tell you anything about the Joining? All he told us was to wait until you arrived"

"He just told us to find you" Rhiannon said, a few moments of silence passed

"So none of us know what we're meant to be doing, if anything? Great" Mahalath spoke for the first time that day, the younger mage looked up with sudden interest. She jumped up looking at Mahalath's face intently, Mahalath for her part looked very confused. "What's she doing?" she asked looking to Cadfael.

"Rotten, personal boundaries" he said gently, the voice reminded Atarah of her father when he was reminding her about manners without sounding annoyed or forceful about it. Dinah quietly apologised and moved to Cadfael's side "We've never met a Dalish the elves that come to the circle are always from alienage's, the tattoos are quite interesting"

"You don't look well" Dinah said picking up her bear that she had sat down to pet Digby, in a voice that really made Atarah question her age she couldn't pin one down.

"I'm not" came the honest answer, the little mage's eyes drifted down to Mahalath's stomach now permanently scarred.

"Blood poisoning? I can check" she said positively

"She doesn't have blood poisoning, look there's no sign of infection around the scarring, and the skin looks healed" Cadfael told her, Dinah looked a little embarrassed as she hid her face in her bear.

"How old are you?" Atarah asked curiosity finally getting the best of her

"I'm seventeen, Cadfael's going on twenty-six this year, how about you?" Dinah replied barely batting an eye carrying on a casual conversation

"So young, you must be very talented for Duncan to have recruited you. I'm twenty-four" Rhiannon replied

"Nineteen" Mahalath added

"Twenty-one. Should we try to find our missing two?" Atarah suggested, Cadfael shook his head and pointed behind her. Approaching the group were two armour clad dwarfs, one man one woman, these must have been Sigurd and Brynja.

"Everyone here?" Sigurd asked

"Should be, do you know what we're meant to be doing?" Cadfael asked

"Yeah we just bumped into Duncan, he told us to talk to Alistair who will tell us what to do and where is your friend going?" Brynja said pointing to the now wandering off Dinah. When Atarah glanced at Cadfael he had the face of someone who was used to this sort of behaviour and found it somewhat endearing.

"She came to the circle when she was three, she barely remembers what life was like outside so she's naturally curious about everything and lacks the social skills to remain in one place" Cadfael explained noticing Atarah staring at him

"You've been together some time then"

"Yes. So we should go find Alistair, Dinah will be fine she has a knack for turning up where she needs to" Cadfael reassured them "Are you going to be alright?" he asked Mahalath who looked slightly taken aback by his concern.

"I'll be fine" she replied curtly, taking that as an incentive to take the lead towards part of the ruins they hadn't yet visited, under the assumption that if they had already passed this Alistair he would have said something.

They walked into a smaller walled off section where a blonde man was arguing with a member of the chantry. Just from how the man was talking Atarah wasn't sure what to make of him, he didn't seem to even try and treat the chantry man with respect, making jokes at his expense. At least she wasn't the only one that seemed unimpressed with him, Cadfael, Mahalath and Sigurd were equally put off. Eventually the chantry member gave off a sigh of frustration and stormed off, Atarah made a noise drawing the man's attention to them. He looked happy to see them and doddered over to the group, judging from that reaction Atarah could only assume this was Alistair.

"Don't you just love how blights bring everyone together, really warms the heart" he said cheerily.

"Well considering most of us were forced here by unfortunate circumstance I wouldn't say we love it. You are Alistair yes? Perhaps you can finally tell us what we are expected to do here as Duncan neglected to tell us himself" Cadfael said sounding fed up.

"Oh right, um yes. We are needing to go into the Korcari Wilds to collect darkspawn blood and recover some grey warden documents. Shouldn't there be one more?" he asked

"Is it necessary for us all to be in attendance? Our instructions are hardly that complex"

"Wait did you say collect darkspawn blood? What in the stone do we need that for?" Sigurd asked, or more rather demanded was a better description.

"And if it's all the same, I'd rather avoid being exposed to more darkspawn until I get my cure" Mahalath added.

"I can't really say why we need their blood, but this has to be done before the Joining where you'll get the cure" Alistair explained "We should find your friend and then we can head off"

"You're coming with us?" Rhiannon asked to which Alistair nodded. They started walking towards a large wooden gate separating the camp from the Wilds, subsequently they found Dinah already there waiting for them.

"Hello, I need to look for flowers while we're out there. I hope that's okay"

"Only if you explain the bear" Brynja counter offered, that caused the young girl to look nervously to her senior mage, a silent conversation passed between them before he gave her a nod, granting her permission to do something.

"Once we're outside I'll introduce you to Reginald" she told them. As they approached the gate Alistair called out to the gate keepers, who begrudgingly opened the gates for them, calling them idiots for going into the woods under their breaths.

As they entered the woods a strange feeling came over Atarah, one much different than the one she had inside the camp. Where, though damaged, there were still walls around them, there was structure, people, signs of life. Here was a sense of, something. It wasn't evil, or malicious she didn't think, but more warning. As though the Wilds were trying to warn them of the danger they were putting themselves in just by venturing in. There was no sightings of any buildings or camps for as far as she could see through the trees. Just trees and muddy ground, with roots and rocks littered around and the strange smell of ash. Cautiously Atarah, closely followed by Mahalath and Sigurd started walking forward. There was a sudden scream causing everyone to turn to the source weapons drawn expecting darkspawn, not Dinah to have gotten her feet stuck in a deeper than it looked mud patch. As though it was nothing Cadfael wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her upwards, leaving her suspended in the air with her now bare feet dangling.

"I lost my shoes" she said glumly and Atarah couldn't bring herself to be annoyed at the girl.

"Alright so first things, what's up with the bear?" Brynja asked

"Since we're going to be working together I guess it'll come out at some point, please don't panic" she said, still being held up by Cadfael, and threw her bear on the ground. Except he didn't fall limply, he landed on his feet and stayed standing, he even looked around at the group and waved his paw at them. Atarah felt herself blinking rapidly at the bear, it was clearly a toy bear but it was moving like it was alive. She had to commend herself for keeping her composure, unlike Alistair who was rambling hysterically to the point Sigurd had to punch him in the stomach just to get him to shut up.

"How?" Sigurd asked.

"An old and rare form of spirit magic, the ability to transfer the spiritual energies of one being into another form to preserve it. A dying animal found its way to the circle, Dinah was young and short sighted so performed such magic to move its spiritual energy into her bear believing it would save its life. Now in normal circumstance, the energy would be preserved in the object for a short time before dissipating as no mage is powerful enough to move the life force of one being into another permanently but Reginald remains to exist" Cadfael explained, judging from the way he said it and the look on Dinah's face Atarah got the impression that that wasn't the full story and there was something the pair weren't telling them. But they seemed harmless though, and the bear looked friendly if that was possible. Even so it was as valid an explanation as they had time for.

"Your brothers meant to be out here right? We can try finding him?" Dinah asked speaking directly to Rhiannon, she'd been placed back on the ground now picking up Reginald who had grabbed the attention of Digby who was sniffing at him.

"We can't really afford to get distracted" Alistair pointed out

"Surely we could spare a little?" Atarah tried to say convincingly "How about we split up, Rhiannon, Mahalath and I" Digby barked loudly "And Digby. We can head in the direction Fergus was meant to have gone in and if we haven't found anything in an hour we come back" Alistair looked like he was going to say something but Cadfael cut him off.

"Very well, just make sure you get three vials of darkspawn blood" he told them

"Thank you" Rhiannon said, there were tears in her eyes but she kept them in. The closet person she had to confide in about the massacre was Atarah who had been there, but even so it was impossible for Atarah to understand how it felt having your household, family, friends killed while you yet lived.

They split off then, with Mahalath leading their small part of the group. Atarah had no doubt when on top form the archer could glide through these woods with the grace and speed of a deer, even now she was able to dart through light but sure footed. Admittedly Atarah felt a little jealous of her, as she had stumbled a few times already, Rhiannon wasn't having much more luck herself though the armour probably wasn't helping. The mabari looked like he was having a lovely time though.

"Thoughts on our fellow recruits?" Atarah asked hoping to break the silence that had fallen on them.

"There's something strange about that girl, I don't know what to make of Alistair. He looks a little like the Shem King. Don't think anything of the others good or ill" Mahalath replied, having stopped to draw her bow, aiming at what Duncan had called a genlock. It hadn't noticed them yet.

"I heard that one of the children of Orzammar's king was called Brynja, her description matches that of the Brynja we met. It didn't click that they could be the same person, I mean she's a princess"

"Do you know what that tattoo on Sigurd's face means?" Atarah asked, there was a thud followed by a short shriek as the darkspawn died.

"They, um. They have a strict caste system in Orzammar, the tattoo means he's casteless and considered the lowest of the low in their society"

"He seemed companiable enough with Brynja. I doubt a princess and a casteless would spend much time around each other" Mahalath pointed out as they walked over to the darkspawn's body, seeing her hesitation to go any closer Atarah knelt down to fill their three glass vials with its blood. It was a black thick viscous substance, it smelled horrible.

"We're all recruits now, and that means giving up any titles and lands we own to dedicate ourselves to the wardens" Rhiannon said bitterly, it hardly seemed fair that none of them truly had the choice to join the wardens, yet they were expected to leave behind everything. Their recruiter had pointed out adamantly that Rhiannon wasn't allowed to seek vengeance for what had been done to her family. Not to mention Mahalath had been denied her right to die with her family to be with the wardens, at least Atarah had a fixed destination she could write to Mahalath's clan were never in the same place too long. "I'm not seeing any sign of their camp, are we sure we're going the right way?"

"If they went this way as we were told then yes, we're going the right way" Mahalath said pausing to look around the wilds "But you're right, we can't know if they changed course. Chances are they could have ventured much further than we can walk in the time we have. We should be heading back soon" she admitted.

"I'm sorry Rhiannon" Atarah said resting her hand on the taller woman's shoulder in what she hoped came across as a reassuring gesture. At their feet, Digby was nuzzling into his mistress's legs, whining softly, Rhiannon was absentmindedly petting his head. As they were about to leave Atarah noticed some odd-looking flowers, their colours stood out from the rest of the woods colour scheme so she went to pick them up. Thinking they might be the flowers Dinah mentioned them needing to find very briefly. "Let's head back, we'll see if we can find the others"

It may have been a side effect from spending most of his life confined to the circle but Cadfael didn't consider himself as much of an outdoor person. Certainly, wandering aimlessly through the woods being led by seemingly the least experienced grey warden possible to harvest darkspawn blood, wasn't something Cadfael would consider a good use of his time. At least Dinah was having fun, even though he was having to hold her hand so she could keep her balance on the various tree roots and rocks she was walking on due to the loss of her shoes. She was rambling about how nice it was to be out, and to not have to carry Reginald around so much as the small bear was plodding along just ahead of them. The former Templar wasn't reacting well to Reginald but he bought their story, the study of spirit magic was quite often mistaken for blood magic after all. It was obvious Alistair used to be a Templar but honestly Cadfael doubted the man was any good, as he had so far gone the wrong way three times looking for this outpost. Thankfully by this point, they'd already filled their glass vials and hadn't had too much trouble with darkspawn. Though Dinah had expressed her belief that the wardens were going to ask them to drink the stuff, more worrying was Alistair's lack of denial claiming he couldn't say anything about the Joining.

"You never told me, did you manage to track down your brother and sisters?" Dinah asked, pausing to prepare a big jump from one of the rocks to another.

"Connlaoth's in Ostwick, Aberfa's in Markham, Callee in Jainen and Asthore in Ansberg. Their replies arrived the day before we left, Asthore readily believed my claims to be her older brother she's ten. Aberfa and Callee have vague recollections of me from before they took me to Lake Calenhad, though Connlaoth is sceptical" he told her, he'd sent letters out to most of the circles in Thedas after his own mother stopped writing it was lucky that he had received any reply at all. The Templars and those running the circle didn't think fondly of letting mages of the same family maintain contact.

"You're lucky, I can't remember my family. They never wrote" she had been young when she arrived at the circle so Cadfael could understand her not remembering. It was a little fuzzy for him but he could vaguely remember Irving explaining that Dinah's mother had died in childbirth and she was raised by her father and aunt, complicated relationship, her magical talents manifested due to the trauma of her father being arrested and her aunt instantaneously sending her to the circle without a second thought. Irving had told him not to say anything to Dinah until they received word from her father but nothing ever came, and it seemed cruel to tell her now.

"Your thoughts on the upcoming battle?"

"Our story would be too short if it went to plan" she said simply "There is more going on here then we're allowed to know" one of the unexplained mysteries of Dinah, ever since she created Reginald she'd say things that ended up happening and knew things that she shouldn't know of. Of course, these comments didn't occur often, and in Cadfael's experience Dinah didn't also acknowledge most of the stuff she came out with unless he or someone else prodded for more information.

"Can you hurry up a little? We're going to lose daylight" Brynja called from a bit ahead of them, the woman had proved pleasant enough, Dinah particularly was enamoured with her likely because she was the princess of Orzammar. Neither her or Sigurd had told them how they ended up on the surface with the wardens, though after being told how he and Dinah were recruited Sigurd did open up to them about his sister. It still struck Cadfael as strange the dwarves insistence to remain underground when it was apparently now causing fertility problems among the people.

"How far is it now?" Sigurd shouted to their inept guide.

"That's it, that building just there" he shouted back, up ahead just peeking out through the trees was a small decrepit collection of bricks that one day must have been in the form of a watchtower but was hardly recognisable as that now. If that was the state of the building Cadfael had little hope that the documents held within would be in any useable state. Cadfael waited a moment while Dinah jumped onto his back managing to avoid impaling herself on the sword he had strapped there, grabbed Reginald off the ground and jogged up to the others. There was a small group of darkspawn lurking just within the ruins. Carefully Cadfael got his sword, Dinah having dropped down to the ground, he offered the blade to her as Dinah raised her hands casting a poisonous mist over the sword. When the others were ready Dinah let out a loud whistle causing the enemies head to jerk towards them, they let out a shriek and charged. Cadfael swung his sword, channelling a beam of poisonous energy towards the darkspawn knocking two of them onto their backs. Brynja quickly ran up to them impaling one with her sword, Sigurd came up to her side to behead the other as it tried to get back to its feet. From his side Dinah sprinted forward, hands glowing a bright green she leapt through the air jumping onto one of the darkspawn. She pushed back off leaving a glowing mark on its chest, Brynja came forward holding her shield up to block the creatures counter attack while Dinah pulled back to a safe distance a few seconds later the mark blew up.

The shock knocked Brynja back a few steps but Sigurd had already run up to her back holding his arm out to steady her as she went backwards. Two left. Cadfael charged his magic focusing it into his sword, he jammed the sword into the ground sending tremors through the earth. One hand remaining on the handle Cadfael summoned a ball of fire in his other throwing it at one of the stumbling darkspawn. The warden Alistair made his move, managing to hold his footing coming up shield slamming one of them and slicing into the other one cleaving it in two diagonally through the chest. It wobbled before falling to the ground, with its brethren. Cadfael pulled his sword out from the ground and the ground stopped shaking. He watched as Dinah wondered over to the bodies with the vials, when she was done filling them she stored them inside the pouch on Reginald's belly, the small bear walked on making a slight clinking noise with each step he took. With that taken care of Alistair brought them into the ruins, he froze before running up to a broken box dropping to his knees in front of it.

"They're not here" he said worriedly, as they stood within the ruins Cadfael sensed a presence with them. Magical, not circle though, non-hostile but curious. A quick look to Dinah and he knew she sensed it too, there was a mage watching them.

"My name is Cadfael Amell of the lake Calenhad circle. I know you are there so I ask you to show yourself so we may speak" he called out to the space around them, sure enough a dark-haired woman appeared from the top of the stairs she walked down with an air of confidence. The kind of walk someone who believes they have complete control of themselves and the situation would have. She was glancing at them in a slightly arrogant manner, this was a chasind he assumed, and she was carrying a staff so a more traditional in that regard.

"Witch of the Wilds" Dinah whispered in awe, hiding behind Cadfael

"A keen sense you have, most simply wander in blindly and clumsily looking for that which has been picked clean long ago" she said pointedly, referring to Alistair who had now stood back up from searching the broken box. "Now, I have been watching you ever since you wandered into these woods. I'm curious as to your purpose"

"Don't answer her, she looks chasind which means there might be more" Alistair warned glancing around the area as though he were expecting something to swoop in from the shadows.

"We were sent to collect grey warden documents that were meant to have been stored here, though clearly they are gone. Perhaps you know where they are?"

"Indeed I do, t'was my mother who took them. For safe keeping or they'd have long since been looted or rotted away"

"Guess that means we're going to meet your mother" Sigurd commented "Before we do we should know your name"

"You may call me Morrigan, now let us be on our way. I will take you to my mother" she said walking through the group past Cadfael and Dinah, she seemed to be putting in a concentrated effort to swaying her hips in a more exaggerated manner. At his side Dinah was giggling a little as she followed, he had to admit the woman did look a little silly walking in such a manner but he knew better that to make comment or laugh at the woman that was showing them where the warden documents were.

After walking for some time the trees opened up to a small clearing, with a surprisingly clean and refreshing lake a small older but practical cottage that had vines climbing up the walls and along the thatch roof. It felt out of place, as though it was in its own separate plain compared to the woods and even the ruins of Ostagar. Outside tending to a cooking pot on an open fire was an old woman, with scraggily matted grey hair and pronounced wrinkles on her face. Even so when she looked up at the group there was an age and wisdom that somehow still managed to exceed her obvious old age, there was something else there though. When they saw her, Dinah had let out a whimper and was now rigidly hiding behind Cadfael, even Reginald had buried his head into the girl's shoulder. Their dwarven pair had no such qualms about approaching her though as Morrigan went up to introduce them. There wasn't a very strong familial resemblance between the two, Cadfael noticed.

"Just as expected if a little late" the old woman said

"Are you honestly expecting us to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked in a huff

"Believe or don't that is your choice, either makes one a fool" she said cryptically

"Morrigan told us you had the old grey warden documents. We were told to collect them" Brynja broached with a friendly diplomatic voice that probably came from living with royalty for her entire life. Sigurd had mentioned in passing that Brynja was quite popular among the people in Orzammar, perhaps this was part of why.

"Ah straight to the point, how direct. I like you, very well wait but a moment" she said before heading inside the cottage, coming out a moment later with a collection of rolled up papers "The seals wore off long ago" she told them as Alistair went up to claim them, securing them to his belt with string. "Tell the other wardens with you that this threat is much greater than they realise"

"What do you mean?" Sigurd demanded

"Either they realise too little or the threat is greater than what they believe, either way you have what you need" she insisted

"Would you kindly show us the way back to our camp?" Cadfael asked, the woman looked over to her daughter

"They are your guests, Morrigan" she smugly told her annoyed daughter

"Very well, follow me" Morrigan told the group walking back the way they had come from.

Cadfael had to admit he was glad to be getting away from that cottage, there was something unsettling about the woman, like her daughter she radiated magic but it was older more powerful.

The witch left them a short distance from the camp entrance, according to Sigurd at least there were very fresh footprints outside the entrance meaning the rest of their fellow recruits had already arrived. Sure enough Digby ran up to greet them, specifically Dinah, in a happy enthusiastic manner. His owner approached shortly after.

"How'd you do?" she asked

"Got our vials, got the documents" Sigurd said, at this point Alistair took the vials from Reginald's pouch and wandered off saying something about preparing with Duncan leaving Reginald with his pouch hanging open. Cadfael could just imagine the bear staring at the warden indignantly as he zipped his own pouch back closed. "Did you find your brother?" Sigurd asked Rhiannon, she shook her head solemnly.

"We did find the flower the mabari keeper wanted, here's the extra" she said passing the flowers to Dinah who stored them away for safe keeping. "They're meant to reverse the taint if used early enough" she explained "Duncan told us the Joining will happen this evening so we're free to do as we please until then"

They took a moment to acknowledge each other before everyone made their way back into camp to find something to do for the next few hours.


	9. Chapter 9 The Calm

Being outside was still a strange sensation for Sigurd, prior to leaving with the wardens he like nearly all dwarves in Orzammar had never seen the sky. It was nice, the sun felt warm on Sigurd's face and it was a lovely shade of blue. And clouds, Sigurd had to admit he liked clouds. Though while Sigurd found himself fascinated and enjoying being on the surface he knew his now friend Brynja was not having as easy a transition. When they first stepped out onto the surface she had a panic attack convinced she would fall into the sky, obviously she'd calmed down but she did keep glancing at the sky nervously every so often and mentioning how strange it felt being surrounded by people so much taller than the pair of them. Not that she'd let the others know her discomfort. With a few hours to spare Brynja had told him that she was going to find weapons and armour vendors and see who she could find, leaving Sigurd to wander around by himself for a while. He'd tried approaching Mahalath but the woman didn't feel like being sociable as she'd jumped up onto the fence around the camp and ran off.

The elven bride Atarah was with the kennel master helping to look after the mabari's with Dinah, as far as he knew Cadfael had gone to visit the other mages in the camp. Rhiannon had gone to find and speak with some of the higher ups about her brother, Sigurd felt sympathy for her about the whole situation. He walked through the camp, holding his axe casually over his shoulder, the other soldiers didn't seem to be paying him too much attention, it was nice having people look at him more with casual disinterest than disdain. He passed by a tent that's entrance was maned by two soldiers, so clearly someone important was inside but it didn't look regal enough to be the Kings so he approached the soldiers.

"Ho there, you are approaching Teryn Loghain's tent state your business" the soldier informed him, the Kings most trusted advisor and lead strategist, Duncan had told them that Loghain had been good friends with Maric, Cailan's father. It had been him to grant him the title of Teryn after they fought in the war against the Orlesian's together. An interesting concept, a commoner being lifted up in station so high from his own ability.

"I'd like to meet this man" he told the soldier who looked at his friend uncertainly "Surely there's no harm asking"

"Alright I'll ask, wait here" the soldier said heading into the tent, Sigurd glanced up to see Mahalath somehow balancing on the roof of the tent near an opening near the top. Before he could say anything the soldier came out with an older man in armour that could only have been Loghain.

"Ah one of the new wardens I assume?"

"Sigurd Brosca, I thought it polite to introduce myself to the Kings advisor. I hear the other soldiers speak highly of you"

"A gesture that is appreciated, thank you. Maric thought highly of the Grey Wardens, it was he who brought them back to Fereldan. Though his son's fascination with your order" he paused there, it was clear he had a lot of respect for Maric but he had some reservations about the man's son and the current King. Of course, he wouldn't say anything out rightly about him. On top of the tent Sigurd noticed Mahalath slip into the tent.

"You think his trust is too absolute?"

"It is not my place to say, we just pray that he will take on the advice of his advisors instead of being enamoured with the glory of battle"

"It is unusual for a King to be so close to the battle"

"He's heard the stories of the Grey Wardens and considers it a great honour to ride into battle at their side"

"I haven't seen any horses, though I doubt you'd have one to suit my stature" Sigurd pointed out, that got a chortle out of the older man, out the corner of his eye he saw Mahalath climb out of the tent carrying something.

"Perhaps not, it was nice meeting you Sigurd but I have matters to attend to before tonight's battle"

With that the Teryn returned to his tent, Sigurd let out a sigh and stormed off in the direction he saw Mahalath walk in but there was no sign of her. As he walked past a pillar there was a crackling of tiny falling stone, looking up he found the archer perched on the broken pillar. He waved her down and after a few moments hesitation she came down, the poor girl didn't look well, he was surprised she was still moving as well as she was. Without saying anything he guided her to one of the camp fires had her sit down while he grabbed them both a plate of meat and bread that the fire attendant was handing out. The elf didn't have any outward reaction but was quick to start eating the food offered to her, she'd sat her bow and quiver by her feet along with a small bag with the edges of paper sticking out.

"That tattoo, you didn't get that the same way I got this" Sigurd said pointing to his casteless brand, taking a small pleasure in how the mark meant nothing on the surface.

"The ink used for our vallaslin is sacred to the Dalish, it is our mark of adulthood" she explained between mouthfuls.

"Casteless get our brands when we're young. It's not our choice, just meant to make it clear to everyone that we were the lowest of the low" Mahalath paused eating looking like she wanted to say something but didn't. "Are you feeling better?"

"Why do you care?" she instantly snapped back, clearly someone didn't enjoy being vulnerable.

"I've an older sister, but I've always had to look after her. Make sure she was safe, it's become second nature"

"…sorry, that was rude. I'm very tired" she admitted

"Shouldn't you rest then instead of sneaking into someone's tent?"

"I've been forcibly taken from my family and expected to fight in a battle I did not sign up for with human soldiers who have been looking down on me since I arrived. One of them came up and asked why I hadn't finished deliveries yet as though I was just another one of their worker elves"

"That doesn't mean you're allowed to invade another's privacy and steal their belongings" Sigurd pointed out "I won't rat you out or insist you return that. Sometimes you need to rise above others expectations, even if they hurt you, understand?"

"Maybe I'll be in better spirits when the wardens give me the cure and I'm not dying. Thanks for the food" she said before setting her plate aside, grabbing her belongings and wandering off. With a sigh Sigurd kept eating his food.

The kennel master couldn't tell them if the flower would successfully cure the mabari, but Atarah was hopeful, the mabari in question was quite adorable with a squishy face. The younger mage was looking glum about the whole thing. After getting the cure the mabari curled up and fell asleep, they stayed petting her for a few minutes before the kennel master asked them to leave to let her rest. They ended up walking around the camp together.

"I like your dress" Dinah said in a whimsical voice looking at the dress in awe.

"Thanks, my father had it made for my wedding"

"You're married?"

"Um no, it's a long story. I'd rather not get into it right now, another time"

"Cadfael made my dress, it was a present for passing my Harrowing" she said happily twirling to show off the dress "This was from Cullen one of the Templars, he gave me it for the same reason" she said pointing to the pendant around her neck.

"Wait I thought Templars and mages didn't get along? And Cadfael makes clothes? I have to say he doesn't look the type" Atarah asked confused, patting the head of Reginald who Dinah had insisted she hold for a while.

"There are tensions but it's possible. I mean Grand Enchanter Irving and Knight Commander Greagoir have been running our Circle for years and get along, I think if the tower went haywire as long as Irving was alive and well Greagoir wouldn't do anything bad. Cullen's nice too we're close, Carroll is a little odd though. And well, there isn't much to do in the tower and the Templars don't have a problem with getting us cloth for clothing"

"What does magic feel like?"

"Um… I don't know how I'd explain it, Cadfael might be better to ask that"

"I'd still like to hear how you'd explain it"

"Um, it's like a limb. It's not something you're consciously aware of being there but you always know it's there. Like when your reading and want to pick up a cup, you can do that without looking cause your mind knows your arm is there and what its reach is and where it is in relation to everything else"

"So it's like an extension of yourself?"

"Not an extension. It is as natural a part of us as any limb, it is what makes us feel whole" came the voice of Cadfael as they had arrived at the sectioned off part of the camp reserved for mages. "It is a force as present and constant as the beating of our hearts, it surrounds us and is always within reach, it's intangible but very real for us mages. It may not be received as a blessing to many and a curse to some but it is still a part of who we are and we'd be lost without it"

"See? Cadfael's better to ask about magic" Dinah said with a proud smile, she calming took Reginald from Atarah's hand and the bear hugged into his owner's chest.

"Wynne's here" Cadfael told Dinah as though the name was familiar and thought of fondly, at the mention Dinah's eyes widened and a giant smile covered her face as she started hopping excitedly

"Friend of yours?" Atarah asked

"In a sense, she's another member of the Circle Dinah and I came from, she's well liked. The younger members regard her as a grandmother of sorts"

"Can we go see her?" Dinah asked still bouncing excitedly, Cadfael looked over to Atarah asking her permission to take Dinah away without saying anything. She nodded, appreciating the fact he was making sure she'd be fine being left alone for a time.

"Come one then Rotten" he said before turning and walking away waving to Atarah over his shoulder, Dinah gave her one last happy grin before skipping along after him. Atarah made a mental note to get the girl some new shoes as already they were caked in dried mud.

She turned in time to see Mahalath storming off somewhere, heading away from Sigurd who was sitting eating at a campfire so she thought better than to interrupt him. That was until her stomach let out a loud rumble so she went to join the dwarf for a spot of food. The attendant was happy enough to give her a plate of food, while Sigurd gave her a warm smile.

"Mind if I sit with you?" Atarah asked still wanting to be polite

"Company's good, please sit"

"How's Mahalath? I just saw her"

"Struggling to adjust, very ill. Not that difficult to get her to talk though just not for long"

"I wish they'd stop messing around and give her what she needs"

"Just a few more hours" he said reassuringly. An easy silence fell over them as they ate by the fire.

The training dummies they had set up in camp were crude, and very basic. Rhiannon could hardly hit them at full strength without almost uprooting them from the ground, still she kept hitting it with her sword again and again. With a final scream she knocked the dummy to the ground in splinters, she stood there staring panting hard with tears coming down her face, her family sword and shield gripped so tight her knuckles had gone white with the strain. They couldn't find Fergus, the one member of her family she had left and she couldn't find him and likely wouldn't until after a battle that could likely get her killed.

"You need something sturdier than one of these things" Brynja said sounding impressed, Digby barked in agreement.

"Are you volunteering?"

"As long as you don't mind me fighting back" she retorted readying her own sword and shield.

Their swords slammed into each other, the metal ringing loudly through the air.

The fight only lasted five minutes before Digby jumped between the two of them, forcing Rhiannon to acknowledge she'd just broken one of her father's rules for training. Never spar with someone when you're angry, and judging from Brynja's guilty look she was having a similar epiphany. Rhiannon dropped to her knees bruised and exhausted, Digby came over and gently licked her face.

"I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to take my anger out on you" Rhiannon said

"I'm sorry too, I've not adjusted well to all this, it's just too much too take in so fast" Brynja admittedly as she laid down flat on her back.

"I understand, this isn't where I thought my life was going to go. I always thought I'd eventually meet a nice noble have a few kids and raise them to be forces of nature. Not to have nearly my entire family killed while I'm completely powerless to save them, to survive only on the condition I abandon my name and be forbidden from seeking retribution"

"I can understand wanting revenge, I'm sorry about your family"

"Rendon Howe is the one who will be sorry" Rhiannon snapped out with bitter venom.

"That's a beautiful sword" Brynja said changing the subject

"It's the Cousland family sword, been in our family for generations. When Howe's men attacked mother and I retrieved it from the vaults so he couldn't get his hands on it" calmly she sheathed her sword and placed her shield back on her back, she stood up with Digby excitedly bounding at her feet. "Thank you for the sparing match but I need to walk" Brynja gave her an acknowledging wave as Rhiannon walked away with Digby at her heel.

By this point it was about an hour before Duncan wanted them to converge for the Joining, though the sun was beginning to set so she made her way back to the bridge they had crossed to get into camp. Sat on the wall she looked out over the forests, watching as the sun set turning the sky into fire. She used to do this with her brother and Gilmore when they were younger, they'd gather on one of the balconies of the estate to watch the sun go down and then count the stars when they came out. Gilmore was probably dead now, Rhiannon couldn't begin to fathom how many lives were lost in the massacre and now her home was probably overrun with Howe's men and being used as his new estate. It made her sick to her core the thought of those monsters having run over her family's home but there was nothing she could do, without Fergus she had no claim to Highever.

There were footsteps approaching them, Rhiannon turned and saw Cadfael walking over to her.

"The others have gathered for a meal before the Joining, please, join us" he said calmly

"I'm not that hungry, thank you" Digby whined in disagreement.

"The battle is scheduled not long after we go through the Joining, we won't get another chance to eat anything. You are not going into battle on an empty stomach" Cadfael said more insistently, they locked eyes for a few moments before Rhiannon conceded standing up to follow him. He led her to a small fire that had been set up near the entrance of a more secluded section of the ruins, through the entrance Rhiannon could just see Duncan and Alistair setting things up. The rest of the group were seated around the fire with plates of food, Atarah and Sigurd only had a roll of bread each though. She sat down next to Dinah who handed her an already made up plate and a water skin.

"It might have cooled down a little" she said with puffed up cheeks as she was stuffing her face with food at the same time. Though when Digby laid down beside her Dinah started feeding him bits from her plate, Reginald was happily sitting in his owner's lap, he probably didn't need to eat. Glumly Rhiannon ate the food given to her, it didn't taste of anything and she hadn't been lying when she said she wasn't feeling hungry but she knew if she was going into battle she needed the energy. Breaking the silence was Dinah happily talking about her experiences in the Circle, Sigurd and Brynja eagerly asking questions about magic and dreams as she spoke. Atarah looked just as interested in the young girl's stories but was restrained enough not to ask questions every few minutes, Cadfael and Mahalath weren't really paying attention though considering Cadfael had likely experienced all of Dinah's stories and Mahalath was withdrawing from her illness it wasn't surprising.

Soon the sun was completely gone from the sky, and in its place a dark sheet covered the landscape. Instead of the moon or stars thick heavy clouds were rolling in, rain would be falling very soon. There was a noise from inside the secluded section and moments later Alistair came out to see them. They were finally ready to proceed with the Joining. Silently one by one they each stood up and went into the space, Duncan was standing there waiting beside a table with seven goblets of what looked like wine that was just a bit too thick.

"Hey I was right" Dinah said sounding impressed with herself

"Right about what?" Rhiannon asked confused

"We have to drink the blood they had us collect" Cadfael explained, his face was expressionless but Rhiannon could feel an aura of rage radiating off him. To her left she heard Mahalath start breathing heavily, she was snarling and her hands were bunched in tight fists.

"What?! No! I'm already infected with the taint how is putting more of that stuff in my body going to save me?!" Mahalath demanded trying to sound angry but coming across more as terrified, Rhiannon couldn't blame her.

"The Grey Wardens were first founded during the first blight, it was then the first of us drank darkspawn blood and mastered the taint. You will consume this as the first wardens did and as we have done, those who survive will become Grey Wardens. Through consuming this we are granted our abilities to sense darkspawn and defeat an archdemon as well our immunity to the taint"

"Those who survive? You made joining the wardens a condition to help most of us, you didn't tell us the mere process of becoming a warden could kill us" Brynja angrily pointed out

"Because who would join if they knew, and if we refuse you'll need to ensure we won't talk" Cadfael bit out glaring at Duncan, at least Alistair looked a little guilty for everything. Cadfael moved passed Duncan grabbing two goblets, handing one to Dinah. Reluctantly everyone else grabbed a goblet and stood in a circle.

"This is the price of becoming a Grey Warden and yes it must be kept secret to protect our order. Now, we only say a few words before the Joining but they have been said since the first, Alistair if you would" Duncan said bowing his head in prayer.

"Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand, vigilant. Join us as we carry a duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten and that one day we shall join you" Alistair said with hardly a stutter or hesitation. The group all looked around at each other and the goblets in their hands. Sigurd was the first to raise his goblet, said cheers then downed the contents in one go, everyone else followed suit.

A startling wave of pain assaulted Rhiannon's head, the pain forcing her to fall to her knees clutching her head. There was screaming but she couldn't tell who it was, or if it was just in her head. Then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 9 The Tower Race

Night had already fallen in full when Dinah finally woke up, Cadfael, Atarah and Reginald were leaning over her looking down at her eyes full of concern. Their eyes were glowing, there was a ring of glowing silver in their iris's. Atarah let out a sigh of relief as Cadfael dragged Dinah up into a hug lifting her up to her feet in the process. There were thick grey clouds overhead, heavy rain was going to fall any moment now it seemed fitting to Dinah, she figured King Cailan would appreciate the weather based drama but it was a bad omen. Looking around she felt a sense of relief on seeing everyone had survived the Joining, though Mahalath wasn't doing as well as she was pacing back and forth non-stop and was clearly shaking.

"Too many, so many, they're everywhere, everywhere, I can hear them, they're so loud too loud" she was muttering in a chant sounding close to hysteria, her eyes were glowing too but much brighter than Cadfael and Atarah but hers looked torn and tattered around the edges. It must have been a side effect from having so much of the taint within her body already, to have had to consume more to cure her of the death portion of the taint. Without a second thought Dinah went over to the archer and slapped her across the face, the shock forced her to take a shaky breath snapping her out of the mantra. Slowly Mahalath raised her arm pointing out into the forest, through the darkness there was a glow of bright orange with smoke rising into the air. Dinah struggled to swallow down a gulp of air as she realised what they were facing, there were more darkspawn than she could even fathom to count. She was scared.

"I hope we win" she said quietly

"Not dying today" Sigurd said firmly

"Your resolve won't assure an overall victory" Rhiannon pointed out, her mabari was sitting at her feet looking calm.

"Wow full house, we don't usually have this high a success rate for the Joining" Alistair said as he walked up to the group "I mean, I'm glad to see you're all awake" he reiterated realising how bad what he had said came across. "Duncan wants us to attend the strategy meeting before the battle starts"

As she walked past Brynja gave Dinah's arm a reassuring squeeze, Sigurd too did the same but paused an extra moment longer to give her a smile. The man just had the aura of a big brother, it reminded her of Cadfael though Cadfael was more serious than Sigurd was proving to be. Atarah slowly came up, lightly placing a hand on Mahalath's elbow urging her to move forward, she was starting to revert to her stoic emotionless expression but Dinah had the feeling it would take her some time to adjust to their new life state. Her hand went to the pendant around her neck, her "you passed the Harrowing" gift from Cullen. She'd sent him a letter shortly after they arrived telling him about tonight's battle, she promised she'd write once everything was finished up but.

"Rotten. You'll be fine. Don't start doubting yourself right before your first battle as a hero" Cadfael told her noticing her hesitation.

"I'm scared"

"I know, so am I. And that's okay, but we shouldn't keep the others waiting" he said calmly offering her his arm which she took a hold of. Reginald had wandered up climbing up Dinah's leg until he was perched on her shoulder. Together they wandered down the stairs into the remnants of a great hall, now house to a large war table complete with detailed map of Ostagar. There were little flag pins with skulls on some that were positioned over the forest part of the map, gold and grey flags were positioned near the ruins where the flat ground converged. The last set of flags were positioned on a higher area of the landscape. The King and Loghain were arguing.

"You are the King, it is foolish to be playing the war hero fighting on the front lines with the wardens" Loghain argued, Cadfael explained that in chess the king piece was the most limited and weakest and shouldn't be used on the board, it needed to be protected by the other piece's cause if it was caught the game was lost.

"If you are so sure it's a bad decision perhaps we should wait for the Orlesian forces to arrive?" Cailan said with a smug look, from where she was Dinah could see Mahalath give the King a disgusted look.

"It's a fools notion, we don't need Orlais to defend us"

"Our feuds with Orlais are in the past. And I remind you Loghain you are speaking to your King" he said starting to sound more annoyed, if memory served it was when Maric was still alive that they succeeded in ridding Fereldan of the Orlesian's so it would still be raw for Loghain. She knew she wouldn't be happy about calling on the aid of someone she had only recently considered an enemy.

"Lucky Maric did not live long enough to see you inviting back those who enslaved us for a century"

"I guess our current forces will have to suffice, won't they?" he asked rhetorically, when no one said anything else he and Loghain turned to the war table. "Are your forces ready Duncan?"

"They are, your majesty"

"Very good, and I see all the recruits made it. You should be honoured" he said earnestly, Dinah didn't feel very honoured right now though that might have been because the rain had started trickling down.

"We must focus on the matters at hand, not your fascinations with legends" Loghain said sounding tired, Dinah was starting to get the impression Loghain didn't really like Cailan.

"Fine, speak the strategy. My forces and the wardens will draw the bulk of the horde to us and then…"

"You'll light the beacon signalling my men to charge from our cover and flank the horde"

"The tower of Ishal, who shall we send?"

"My lord if I may, I suggest sending Alistair, Rhiannon, Dinah and Atarah be sent to light the tower while the rest of the new recruits join us on the battlefield" Duncan suggested, a lump formed in Dinah's throat and she tucked herself into Cadfael's side not wanting him to be sent into the thick of things while she was too far away to help. A man dressed in circle robes came up to the war table.

"Your majesty the beacon is not necessary, the Circle of Magi could…" he started to say when a Chantry sister angrily stormed up.

"We will not trust any lives to your spells, save them for the darkspawn!" she angrily snapped at him

"Hey!" Dinah blurted out "Just because our magic is more useful than praying"

"How dare you!" the sister yelled, Cadfael quickly moved so he was standing between the Chantry sister and Dinah. The woman just as quickly backed off when faced with the taller man.

"With that all decided we should make final preparations, thank you for all your help Loghain. I can't wait for that glorious moment. The King of Fereldan fighting alongside the Grey Wardens stopping the tide of evil" Cailan said smiling proudly

"A glorious moment indeed" Loghain said quietly, as the King and advisor parted ways. Duncan gestured for everyone to gather around him. Another Grey Warden came over, his armour made him look like he was a higher-ranking member of the order.

"Brynja, Sigurd, Mahalath and Cadfael I would like you to accompany this man. He will take you to where the rest of our men are positioned, I will join you shortly" instantly Dinah wrapped her arms tightly around Cadfael's torso, earning a perplexed look from Duncan. Cadfael wriggled in Dinah's grasp until she let go letting him kneel down eye level with her.

"This is not where the story ends, you know that. Don't fear for me, just make sure you stay safe" he told her reassuringly, the rain was starting to get heavier now.

"Promise if things go bad you'll get out?" Cadfael dragged her over in a tight hug.

"Lothering, it's less than half a day's walk from here. We passed it on the journey remember? if the battle turns we will meet there" he whispered in her ear before letting her go and standing up with the others. "Keep her safe" he said looking to Atarah who had a momentary look of surprise but nodded. The group chosen to join the forces gathered around the lieutenant, with a last look they followed him away.

"Now as for the rest of you, once the battle has begun in full you are to head to the top of the tower of Ishal to ensure the beacon is lit. This is by order of the King I must reinforce, if the beacon is not lit Loghain's men won't know when to attack" Duncan explained directing them towards the bridge leading to the tower.

They waited together on the bridge for the battle to start, looking down at the armies of indistinguishable faces. Alistair was voicing his annoyance at being put on beacon duty while the rest of the Grey Wardens were going to be in the main battle. It was a little silly sounding to be honest, they did have the biggest chance of surviving where they were, and the King was insistent. The rain was really starting to come down now and Dinah wished she had something to shield herself from it as her hands were starting to go blue from the chill. They had to wait until the battle had started in full before they could move to the tower, at which point it was just a simple race up the tower to light the beacon. Why they couldn't have gone up already and waited at the top of the tower for the battle instead of making it a race where the longer it takes to get to the top the more people who die.

She could just make out King Cailan in the crowds of soldiers, though that was only because he was the only man wearing shining golden armour befitting a King. It was likely Duncan was somewhere nearby him. On top of the hill Dinah could just see the light of a couple small torches showing where Loghain and his men were standing waiting for the signal.

There was a roar below, the darkspawn horde had emerged from the trees, there was no sign of a dragon though. Everyone started charging into battle and catapult ammunition was being set ablaze, they flew through the air crashing into what was left of the ruins and crunching as they hit people. Dinah hugged Reginald close to her chest as she started running for the tower. An arm wrapped around her waist and she was jerked back as a flaming boulder slammed into the side of the bridge sending rubble and embers flying past Dinah's face. It was Atarah who pulled her back, she gave her a scolding look as she took the lead. It was difficult to run without moving her arms but Dinah didn't want to risk dropping Reginald, instead she willed him to help shield her as a transparent bubble materialised around her as she ran past the panicking soldiers running the opposite direction. A couple of bloodied soldiers ran straight up to them forcing the group to skid to a stop, Dinah landing on her back as she had no traction at present. Without a thought, Alistair grabbed the collar of her dress and dragged her back to her feet.

"The towers been taken, darkspawn ambushed us from the lower levels. Nearly killed everyone in there" one of them panted out.

"Great, that's great" Rhiannon grumbled "Maybe I'd have been better off escaping by myself the getting involved with the Wardens"

"You realise I would have helped you escape, right?" Atarah asked

"I… did not"

"We really should get moving, the more time we waste the more people die" Alistair said as he drew his sword and shield. Dinah nodded and made a gesture with her hand, coating her companions with sparkling light. "Mage, right" he mumbled and they started running for the tower again.

The sound of battle was near deafening now, the screams of the darkspawn and soldiers were indistinguishable from each other. Dinah didn't want to think about what was going on down there, the logical part of her brain knew Cadfael would be fine even if the battle failed but it still wasn't something she wanted to think about it. Some of the ambushing darkspawn had leaked out of the tower into the surrounding area near the entrance. Dinah hung back while her weapon holding teammates charged forward, leaving her with Reginald and Digby who had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on her. A couple of the darkspawn pushed past her team, Dinah jumped on the ground focusing her magic into her feet. When she hit the ground, it forced all the moisture out and upwards into spears rising from the ground impaling them. The water dropped with a solid thud, that always entertained Dinah about water was how much like a solid it could act. At her side, Digby started barking as the rest of the team had moved, Dinah sprinted forward summoning fire in the palm of her hand but there ended up being no need for it. She caught up with the others as they were braced against the door, leaving Dinah awkwardly holding a fire ball. Insistently Rhiannon pushed Dinah back so she was standing at her back, her and Alistair were posed to charge in first. A count of three passed and they rammed the doors open, instantly Dinah was hit with the smell of rotten flesh and heat.

The room was set aflame, the air thick with smoke as most of the front room was burning not that the darkspawn seemed to mind. Alistair, Rhiannon and Digby charged in darting through the gaps in the fire to meet the darkspawn. Dinah held out her hands willing the fire to move, it started to pull together rising in a vortex with a snap of the wrist the flames went straight into Dinah. She felt her entire body burning but it left no mark and did no damage to her or her clothes she absorbed to magic back into her. The palms of her hands were glowing slightly orange, anymore fire magic would cause them to start blistering. Hopefully that was the only major fire in the building because there was a limit to how much energy Dinah could absorb without damaging herself, though she could sense many more darkspawn in the tower there was something big on the very top floor. She could feel the heartbeats of the creatures pounding in her ears. A body slammed into her knocking her to the ground, it was Alistair pushing her out the way of a giant arrow as a ballista malfunctioned. She touched his armour as he jumped back to his feet, it glowed faintly. Quickly she ran over to pick up the giant crossbow bolt, double backing to ran after the others. Darkspawn tried lunging for her but she sent a shockwave through the air knocking them backwards, she set out another wave into the surrounding statues sending them falling down crushing onto them with a sickening squelch. Shame though, the tower did have a lovely look, very atmospheric slightly reminded her of the tower. She went to run on when her legs gave out as she stepped on shattered glass, her feet were caked in blood. She glared at them slamming her heels into the ground, concrete came out of the earth and coated her feet with a layer of rock armour. Jumping back up through an open-door Rhiannon was stabbing into a grounded Hurlock, Digby was tearing into another. She couldn't see Atarah but she could hear her nearby.

She pushed passed Rhiannon trusting in the woman's skills to take on a few darkspawn, Alistair and Atarah were in the room where the stairs to the second floor were. There was a giant hole in the floor, the stench of death wafting from it. That would explain how the darkspawn had gotten ahead of the rest of the horde, as some were still crawling out of the hole. While Alistair and Atarah kicked the scrambling darkspawn trying to claw their way out of the hole, Dinah ran up the stairs to the large heavy door pressing her hands into the hinges. It started to creak loudly as they slowly rusted over, all of a sudden it burst open sending both it and Dinah flying down the stairs. Her head slammed into the bottom step, through her now blurry vision she could see the door had landed in the hole blocking it off. Atarah knelt beside her helping her sit back up, she held her chin inspecting the bleeding gash on her forehead. At their side, Reginald ran up holding up some bandages which Dinah grabbed and tied it around her head, there was a shriek from the door as the darkspawn on the second floor were running towards the noise. Dinah tried to stand but found her balance completely gone, instead everyone except Digby and Reginald ran up the stairs. The metal door started thumping loudly, more darkspawn were trying to get through and it wouldn't take long for them to burst through. Ignoring the pain in her skull and feet Dinah sprinted off up the stairs trying to catch up with the others.

Ahead of her she could see Atarah on the ground just holding one of the things off her, Dinah touched Digby's scruff covering him with ice spikes and sent him running into the darkspawn coating them in ice with each scratch and bite. She sent out a telekinetic burst in the direction of darkspawn charging for Rhiannon, sending them out the already shattered window at the far side of the room. Their screams blending with the sound coming from the battlefield, and for a split-second Dinah could swear they almost sounded human and Dinah felt a pain in her heart at the sound. She ran to the window, in time to see the splattered bodies of the darkspawn, the rain was still pounding and the wind howled with the cries of battle.

"DINAH!" Rhiannon yelled snapping her out of her daze, she ran up to the warrior woman with the blood covered face. She reached over and squeezed Dinah's arm reassuringly, she was about to turn and continue through the tower but Dinah reached out and stopped her.

"There's something big just upstairs" she explained

"That's where the beacon is, come on" Rhiannon said sounding annoyed as she ran off

"Be careful is all I'm saying" Dinah shouted after her. She caught up to the group just as they were bolting up the last set of stairs, and she was suddenly grateful to Cadfael for insisting they exercise by running up and down the stairs of their tower, their faces were puffy and red. They barged through the door.

It was a large circular room, the fireplace for the beacon was at the opposite end of the room and the only thing between them was a giant ogre. Dinah briefly wondered how it had managed to fit through the doors and hallways of the tower but stopped when it launched a hunk of floor at her head. She just managed to drop to the floor in time for it to fly straight over her, Rhiannon and Alistair exchanged a look before running off one to either side of the room flanking the ogre. There was a whistle in the air, it took a second for Dinah to realise it was the sound of a boulder quickly approaching the tower. She ran forward to where it was coming from, grabbing Atarah's arm dragging her away just as the wall and roof crashed apart. She willed extra energy to surround her arm as she spun around, launching the woman into the air. Atarah gave out a yelp of surprise as she flew through the air before she aimed her blades and she stabbed them into the ogres back. The elven bride pressed her feet into its back pushing off into a backflip as she pulled the blades back out. Rhiannon and Alistair were hacking at the ogre's legs, ducking and dodging as it swung its hulking arms at their heads. There was a yelp as the ogre hit Digby, knocking him into a wall. Dinah ran over to the door they entered from where Reginald was standing, he jumped into Dinah's arms. She'd never tried this spell before because of space, Dinah closed her eyes imagining her spiritual form along with Reginald's imagining it forming into a big lumbering form.

The spirit beast let out a roar getting the ogres attention, it charged bringing its fists down at its head. The spirit caught it, holding the ogre's hands fast, Dinah felt her nose bleeding but pushed on focusing on pushing the ogre backwards towards the opening in the wall. The others quickly clicked what Dinah was doing as they started slashing at its feet, stopping it from getting a rooted foothold as it roared in frustration. With a final push, the ogre lost its footing completely and it let out a final roar as it plummeted to its death. The spirit beast dissipated and Dinah snapped back into her body, she fell to her back shaking uncontrollably.

Her skin was on fire, she could barely hear anything above the ringing in her ears. She could smell blood and feel it running down her face from her nose, ears and eyes. Her heart was pounding too fast her breathing couldn't keep up, through the black blurry lines of her vision she could just see Alistair running to light the beacon, even that light burned her brain and she squeezed her eyes shut. Minutes passed and the sound of reinforcements didn't come, there was no battle horn or rallying cry. Just despair and nothing. There was still the sound of fighting but even that was fading as they were losing, Dinah turned her thoughts to her friends willing them to still be alive and willing them to just run, they weren't going to win this they were never going to. She was harshly pulled to her feet, still clinging onto Reginald, by Atarah. The older woman was holding her up with one arm, holding the other out in front of them pointing the blade at darkspawn that were slowly filtering into the room. Thankfully Digby had woken up but the mabari was limping heavily at his masters side, there was another whistle heading for them.

A giant rock slammed into the floor in front of them, the force knocking everyone to the ground in a daze plugging a hole in the middle of the room. There was the sound of large wings flapping and the last thing Dinah saw before her vision went completely black was a winged beast descending on them.

They'd woken up in a small cottage owned by Flemeth and Morrigan, it was nice seeing them again. They helped them patch up and healed the injuries they'd sustained at Ostagar, the skin at the base of Dinah's feet had healed up though it was now rough to the touch but she didn't mind. Walking didn't hurt now. When Morrigan gave her the go ahead she'd gone outside and had taken to sitting beside the small lake that was beside the house. The water wasn't as clean as Lake Calenhad but there were frogs in the water. Alistair and Rhiannon were talking with Flemeth, they'd deliberately taken the conversation away from Dinah so she didn't try to approach, she was happy enough sitting by the water with Reginald and Digby who was still walking with a slight limp but looked a lot better than he was. She was absentmindedly petting the dogs head when Atarah came up and sat beside her, she looked tired.

"So apparently Flemeth turned into a dragon and plucked us off the tower"

"Ohhhh" that piqued Dinah's interest "I heard the Witch of the Wilds had great powers"

"You don't seem at all bothered by what's going on, the battle was lost, everyone died" Atarah said in disbelief

"No, not everyone. Our friends escaped"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"If they died, I'd feel it. I'd know it, in here" Dinah said placing a hand on her chest, feeling the calm, steady heartbeat beneath her palm "our story hasn't ended yet, we'll find them in Lothering and go from there. You'll see your father again, you'll see your friend smiling again as fiery as her hair"

"How did? I never told you about…?"

"You tell many stories, even without words" Dinah said with a smile, standing up and walking over to Rhiannon and Alistair. Without saying anything Dinah went and gave the man a hug, it felt strange hugging someone wearing armour but he gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder and didn't push her away until she stepped back. The man let out a cough, unsure what to say but she could tell he appreciated the gesture, she like probably the rest of the recruits didn't feel much for Duncan beyond a begrudging appreciation for him saving their lives and the general wistful sadness you feel when anyone dies. But Alistair had known him for a lot longer, the pain would be much deeper for him though he was doing well not to let it show on his face though, even if his eyes couldn't lie.

"I'm sorry for your loss"

"I don't understand, why would Loghain do this? Just leave his King to die?" Alistair said angrily

"We cannot know the shadows that linger in other men's hearts, perhaps he thought Cailan a greater danger than the Blight, or he fails to realise the true danger world is in. Though I doubt this is the last time you will hear of him, maybe you can ask" Flemeth told them

"True danger? Archdemon?" Dinah asked "Old Gods awakened and tainted by darkspawn, right? So, this is a real Blight"

"This one is proving more enlightened than her appearance would suggest" she sounded amused

"As are you. Can we go now? I want to find Cadfael, can we go to Lothering?" Dinah asked Rhiannon suddenly feeling very vulnerable in front of this woman. Sensing her discomfort the woman put an arm over Dinah's shoulders, putting herself between her and the old woman.

"Before you go, I have a gift for you" at that moment Morrigan walked up to them smelling of rabbit soup. "Or perhaps consider it repayment for me saving you"

"You want us to take your daughter?"

"What?" Morrigan asked in shock

"You've been itching to leave the Wilds for ages my dear, now's your chance"

"With all due respect, is that wise? If your daughter travels with us she'll be labelled an apostate, the guard, Templars if they find out would be duty bound to take her in"

"Stop speaking as though I have no say in this. I am capable of defending myself from those people" Morrigan said indignantly.

"You see her spirit? These Warden's need to create an army and face an archdemon, they will surely fail without you"

"Your level of faith in our abilities is astounding, alright show of hands who's in favour of Morrigan coming with us?" Atarah asked, raising her hand, followed by Dinah, Rhiannon, Reginald and Digby who waved his paw at the witch. They stared at Alistair he pouted a little before reluctantly making an okay fine gesture with his head.

They waited awhile while Morrigan gathered some of her belongings and bid her mother farewell, the two didn't seem to have the closest relationship but she did still seem sad to be leaving her childhood home. The black-haired mage guided them easily from the Wilds onto the main road leading to Lothering, a mabari was waiting for them. It was the same one that Atarah and Dinah had tended to, and it was clear she'd taken a shine to Atarah. Digby seemed to like her as well, Alistair looked ecstatic at the prospect of a second dog while Morrigan looked disgusted and urged them to just leave her. They rightfully ignored her as the mabari was dubbed Adaia pattered along beside them happily as they continued along the road to Lothering.


	11. Chapter 10 The Battle of Ostagar

Even in the most crowded areas of Orzammar Brynja had never been surrounded by so many people, some were visibly scared or nervous while others were eagerly excited. The horde hadn't arrived yet but they were close, she could feel it. One of the new "gifts" she now possessed, along with glowing eyes apparently. Sigurd was standing with her while Mahalath had been told to stand near the rest of the archers positioned to launch the first attack when the horde arrived. The girl in a sense looked healthier than she had when the first met, but she seemed more unsettled since the Joining. Their resident mage wasn't too far away, he'd bumped into a couple of the soldiers that recognised his surname, it was two men with dark hair they had said they had two sisters though that were staying in Lothering with their mother while they were here fighting.

Thunder and lightning cracked overhead as the rain started pouring down in heavy torrents. Someone shouted an alert as the darkspawn horde emerged from the trees, instantly everyone was standing to full attention weapons at the ready. There were more of the ones they saw in the woods, but others too. Bigger, more fearsome as they roared and shrieked at the army. Waving their weapons threateningly, and Brynja could see siege weapons loaded with flaming boulders rolling up.

Then the horde charged, crossing the land with great speed. The archers launched the first volley of arrows killing dozens of the horde but more kept charging, the mabari hounds were sent into battle before King Cailan called out for everyone to charge in. They ran in to meet the horde, Brynja put her shield forward slamming it into a genlock throwing it over her shoulder, she lunged forward stabbing the next one that came at her. She kicked it away whirling round slashing at the next one closest to her getting it in its side. It turned on its heels bringing its axe downwards at her, she raised her shield as it slammed down sending reverberations through the shield down her arm. She stamped on its foot putting it off balance as she stabbed into its side. There was a crunch behind her, whirling round she stopped just short of hitting Sigurd who had his axe embedded in a hurlocks skull. She jumped backwards as he did a 360-turn launching the corpse back into the horde. His face was already splattered with blood as he swung his axe around him hitting four in quick succession.

Brynja froze for a moment looking in horror as a giant horned ogre thundered through the horde and the army, swinging his arms back and forth sending bodies flying indiscriminately. An approaching screech snapped her out of it and she turned just in time to impale a charging darkspawn. Overhead flaming arrows, and fire balls were being launched and catapulted in both directions and parts of the ruins were starting to fall apart from the force. The beacon hadn't been lit yet.

Another darkspawn came at her and Brynja clocked it over the head with her shield stabbing it where it landed. There was screaming as the army was starting to be overwhelmed, the darkspawn showed no mercy as they repeatedly stabbed those they overpowered until they let the bodies fall. An almighty roar sounded and the ground shook as one of the ogres turned its attention to Brynja. She thanked the Stone for her height as she dropped and rolled between the beast's legs as it swiped its arm at her. It kicked backwards hitting Brynja's back sending her rolling forwards forcing her to let go of her shield lest the roll break her arm. She turned on her heels sprinting for her shield, the air whooshed above her head as the ogres arm just missed knocking her head off. When she grabbed her shield, she ran to the ogre and swung her sword into the back of its shin, it barely reacted as the sword was now stuck as Brynja tried to pull it back. It lifted its leg taking Brynja and her sword with it and shook violently. The sword loosened sending Brynja falling back to the ground landing hard on her leg. The ogre was about to step on her when it let out a cry of pain, as Sigurd had driven his axe into the darkspawns knee cap. He let out a grunt as he ripped it out and Brynja could swear she saw bone now sticking out of the darkspawns leg that Sigurd had dislodged. The ogre fell back on its other leg roaring at them, blood and spit flying out its mouth.

A whoosh went through the air followed by a wet thud, the ogre's roar changed from anger to pain as an arrow was lodged in its eye. A second whoosh followed and a second arrow landed it its other eye rendering it completely blind, as it wildly swung its arms in every direction stumbling around feebly looking for something to attack and kill. Mahalath had pushed through the army and the horde, aiming up another shot. One of the horde noticed her and tried attacking her, but Brynja ran forward defending the archer with her shield. Sigurd came up beside her and swung his axe into its side, there was another whoosh and another. Brynja turned to see two arrows now lodged in the ogre's neck, Mahalath pulled another arrow out from her quiver but it was different from the usual. Instead of the usual smaller arrow heads, it was a thicker heavier head that looked like it was made of stone. Mahalath aimed and fired, the weight and force cracked the ogre's skull in two and it fell to the ground with a thud. Looking down Brynja noticed the elf's quiver was now empty, she must have used the last of them on the ogre. Mahalath realised that too as she fastened her bow to her back and pulled a small knife from her belt, hardly enough to kill the darkspawn in great numbers but enough to keep her alive.

There was a cheer the crowds, Brynja turned to see the beacon was now lit. She felt a spark of hope as she raised her sword and shield prepared to face the rest of the horde. One charged for her, it swung a heavy looking broadsword at her head which she easily ducked under and moved her sword for an undercut opening its torso. Bile rose in her throat as rotted organs fell out at her feet, there was a sharp pain in her side as a darkspawn came up in her blind spot while she was distracted and managed to find a gap in her armour thick enough for it to slice into her side. She turned as it slapped at her, its nails digging into the skin of her face. Annoyed she raised her shield and rammed the sharp end of it into its face, Mahalath came up beside her and slit the things throat.

No matter how many darkspawn she killed they just kept coming, the bodies and the blood was starting to blur together and Brynja could hardly pick out individual faces. Something was very wrong. Their numbers were thinning out and Loghain's men should have charged in some time ago but she couldn't see anyone bearing his armour or insignia. She turned to Sigurd who was positioned close to the more or less unarmed Mahalath, they had the same look of worry and confusion on their bloodied faces. More darkspawn charged at them when a cone of fire burst through burning them to a crisp. From the smoke Cadfael ran up to them looking surprisingly untouched by anything, the man hadn't even broken a sweat though his sword looked a little worse for wear.

"The battle is lost. Loghain's men aren't coming. We need to leave" he shouted over the fighting

"We can't just leave the King!" Brynja shouted at him

"I'm not dying for a human King who wanted to undo the work of his own father!" Mahalath resolved moving to stand with Cadfael, he made a gesture with his hand and a shockwave went through them knocking the approaching horde back.

"What are you talking about?" Brynja asked

"The King is dead. Duncan is dead. We are outnumbered with no reinforcements. I only came back for you because I feel obligated to give you the option. But I am leaving. Follow if you wish" he said before turning and running back through the fighting, Mahalath close behind. Sigurd ran past grabbing Brynja's arm forcing her to run as well.

"We can't just run!" Brynja shouted at him, but Sigurd's grip didn't weaken as he used his free hand to swing his axe into any enemies that were in their way. They managed to catch up with Cadfael and Mahalath, along with the two dark haired men Cadfael was talking to earlier. "Who are these people?!"

"I'm Cayden, this is my brother Carver. Lovely to meet you" the one with the scar and a friendly smile across his face said.

"Where are we going?" Sigurd asked as they ran.

"Lothering! I told Dinah we'd meet there" the sound of fighting was fading, as was the rain in fact. A strange shadow passed over them and for a split second Brynja feared a dragon was chasing them but realised how foolish that sounded. They only slowed when they couldn't hear the sound of fighting anymore, they stopped, panting hard.

"Cailan's dead?" Sigurd asked in disbelief

"Yes. An ogre got to him, crushed him to death" Cadfael told them

"And you didn't do anything? How are you so calm about all this?" Brynja demanded

"I'm calm because that's what the situation demands. I didn't do anything because I was too far away when I realised what was happening. The Wilds will be roaming with darkspawn so we need to get to Lothering where we can regroup"

"But what if the others didn't make it?"

"You have too little faith in our comrades. Now calm down, catch your breath, then we get moving. Mahalath?" Cadfael said turning to her "What did you mean by Cailan undoing his father's work?" Mahalath casually pulled documents out from the bag attached to her waist.

"Letters. To and from Cailan. He and his wife are having problems conceiving an heir and he's been encouraged to put her aside, and other letters between him and this empress Celene are speaking of a permanent alliance and they are conversing in a strangely familiar manner" she handed the letters to Cadfael who read over them carefully.

"Where did you find these?"

"In Loghain's tent"

"Loghain spent most of his life fighting to get the Orlesian's out of Fereldan, and this is his daughter. To know that the son of the man he fought beside and was friends with, was planning to divorce his wife to give Orlais a foothold. Moreover, a legitimate hold of the Fereldan throne. Keep a hold of these, keep them safe we may need them" he said handing the papers back to Mahalath.

"So, wait, are you saying Loghain refused to send him men in because he was hoping the horde would kill Cailan?" Cayden asked

"Who are you again?" Sigurd asked the two newcomers.

"Cayden Hawke, this is my little brother Carver. Our mother and sisters Bethany and Lilura are in Lothering"

"They're my cousins. Strange how that works, but it doesn't matter right now. We need to get moving" Cadfael said as he started walking again without a word leaving the others to just follow after him, the boy Carver quickly took the lead likely as he knew the way to Lothering. Brynja still felt horrible about running away, even though she knew it was extremely likely they would have been overcome and died. If the battle area had been so overrun it was likely they ended up in the tower as well, where the others were. Brynja said a silent prayer to the Stone hoping that the others had gotten out safely, and that they'd find them in Lothering.

The sun was starting to rise by the time they arrived at Lothering, she was exhausted and felt ready to drop. Still they continued on, Cayden had said they could rest at their house for a while. There were refugees gathered in the small village already, with a small family huddled by the bridge begging for money and a woman desperately bartering with a merchant. Cayden led them through the village to a small house just on the outskirts. When they walked in they were met with an older woman sitting at a table, her hair had greyed and her eyes were tired but she looked ecstatic to see the boys walk through the door as she jumped up to wrap her arms around them both. Her yell of joy brought two dark haired girls running into the room, they looked the same age, they too came over to hug their brothers. When they let them go the mother looked at the group suspiciously.

"Darlings, who are these people?" she asked her sons.

"Grey Wardens, but hear this. This is Cadfael Amell" Cayden told her gesturing to Cadfael as the mother's eyes widened in recognition.

"You're Revka's son, the mage"

"Nice to meet you Leandra. Perhaps you also know my brother and sisters are also mages? It's a strong trait in our family it seems" he said looking to the sisters, they glanced nervously between their mother and brothers. "It's not difficult to notice other mages when you are one yourself, mother told me you had run away and married an apostate so it was likely you'd have mages like my family"

"We're Grey Wardens anyway so technically we don't care about mages or apostates" Mahalath said sounding bored, she moved past the family sitting down at the table.

"Can they rest here for a little while? I'll fill you in on what's going on" Cayden implored his mother.

"Very well, they can use yours and your sisters room. Lilura, please" the long-haired sister came forward asking the group to follow her. The house only had two bedrooms, one of which she assumed to be the mothers room as the second had four beds in it. Mahalath practically passed out the second she touched on of the beds, so much so half her body was hanging off of it. With no reservation Cadfael moved to her sleeping form and lifted the rest of her back onto the bed shifting a blanket over her. It was nice to see his guardian instincts extended beyond just Dinah, Sigurd sat down on the second bed while Brynja pulled off a couple pieces of her armour leaving her in her simple clothes that she had under it so she could comfortably lie down on one of the beds.

"We'll wake you up in a couple of hours if you like? I'll make some food, though I'll be honest I'm not the best cook" she joked light-heartedly "You look worried about something, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Some of our party are missing. Atarah an elf in what looks like a wedding dress, Rhiannon a woman with short hair and a mabari called Digby, Alistair a blonde man and Dinah. She's a young elf with white hair and green eyes, she usually carries toy bear. That's the one I'm most worried about, we were in the circle together. All of our eyes are going to have this faint glowing circle" Cadfael explained

"We'll keep an eye out and wake you up as soon as we see them" she reassured him, a moment silent passed as Cadfael laid down on the last available bed. Lilura quietly left the room leaving them to rest, Brynja closed her eyes and within moments she was asleep.

Sometime later Brynja bolted up breathing hard brow sweating from one of the worst nightmares she'd ever experienced. Two of the beds were empty, but Mahalath was still fast asleep so Brynja did her best to quietly put her armour pieces back on and leave the room. Everyone was in the front room, it smelled like food was being cooked on the fire. Waiting was apparently their only plan at this stage, without a higher-ranking member of the Wardens what were they expected to do now. The door opened and the younger brother, Carver walked in.

"News of Ostagar is arriving, they're saying the Wardens betrayed the King and left him to die"

"You've got to be joking" Sigurd said in a deadpan voice

"There was also a fight on the bridge, a group of survivors ran the toll collectors away. Strange lot, white haired elf with a" before he even finished the sentence Cadfael had already gone straight out the door. She and Sigurd followed quickly after him as he all but ran through the village.

"DINAH!" he shouted at the top of his lungs

"CADFAEL!" a shout came back a few seconds later, there was the light sound of footsteps as out from the tavern came a sprinting Dinah who launched herself into Cadfael's arms. The man held onto the girl so tight Brynja was worried he was going to hurt her but Dinah didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"I'm so glad you're safe" Brynja just heard him whisper to the girl before he set her back on her feet, from the tavern the rest of their party walked out along with a red-haired woman Brynja didn't recognise and Morrigan.

"We nearly died" Dinah said with a little too much enthusiasm "A dragon rescued us from the monsters" that justified the enthusiasm she was talking with. It was at this point Brynja noticed the second mabari "We got a new dog, her name is Adaia and she imprinted on Atarah" she explained happily, petting the white furred dog on the head.

"Who's this?" Sigurd asked pointing to the red head.

"My name is Leliana I am a lay sister of the Chantry" she introduced herself

"Why is a member of the Chantry wearing armour and carrying a bow?"

"And why is there blood?" Brynja added

"Word travels fast, Loghain blamed us for what happened and put a bounty out on any surviving Wardens. For example, us" Rhiannon explained

"Where's Mahalath? Please tell me she made it" Atarah asked suddenly very worried

"She's resting at my cousin's house, not too far from here" Cadfael told her and she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm I right to assume Leliana and Morrigan will be accompanying us more permanently? It's lovely to see you again by the way" he said politely to Morrigan who gave him a genuine smile

"Such politeness, yes indeed. My mother has decided that your group will value from my wisdom and experience" the witch explained, though judging from Alistair's face the man didn't look to happy about her being there. Together they went back to Cayden's house, by this point Mahalath was now awake and food was being dished out. Leandra started quietly ranting about suddenly having so many people in her house, truth be told they were just managing to fit everyone in the small front room and there was barely enough food for everyone. Rhiannon explained everything that happened with them, how Flemeth the Witch of the Wilds had rescued them and told them where to go. Their plan was to make use of the warden documents that they'd managed to salvage to get to get the Circle of Magi, the Dalish and the Dwarves to fight alongside them. As well, Alistair had suggested the head to Redcliffe and find Arl Eamon.

The Chantry sister told them a little bit about herself, she'd come to Lothering because she had a vision from the Maker telling her to. It sounded a bit like rubbish to Brynja, then again dwarves didn't have dreams so maybe it was possible. For now, though the plan was to get away from the village and make camp somewhere where there was no chance of anyone recognising them or try to get the guards after them. The Hawke family, Cadfael's cousins and aunt, had opted to stay in Lothering as they didn't want to get involved with their problems which was fair enough. They thanked Leandra as they left though she seemed pretty eager to get them gone. Almost instantly Dinah wandered off happily swinging Reginald at her side, with no choice they followed. Brynja couldn't help but notice Leliana staring at Mahalath with a curious look, dare she say the woman appeared to be attracted to the archer? It was a little strange, it certainly wasn't unheard of in Orzammar for two women to be together there had been rumours about Paragon Branka after all. Admittedly considering the peoples focus on battling the infertility crisis, as well as the increase of noble hunters seeking to raise their station, many of the women would put ensuring their station before romantic pursuits. It wasn't something Brynja had really thought about.

They followed Dinah as she approached a human sized cage holding a bigger than human sized creature. It was tall and broad, the figure of someone who had been wielding a sword all their life, his skin was greyish skin. He didn't look impressed to see them.

"Can we keep him?" Dinah asked turning to Cadfael

"He's a sentient fully grown… Qunari. You can't lay claim to him" he said with a hint of laughter in his voice which caught Brynja by surprise.

"But he looks ahead, and he's high up" Cadfael gave her a look that Brynja didn't understand before looking to the prisoner, who was also giving Dinah a strange look.

"What is your name?" he asked him

"I am Sten of the Beresaad, vanguard of the Qunari people" was all he said.

"Why are you in a cage?" Atarah asked stepping forward

"I know this, he murdered an entire family children included" Leliana explained

"This is true" Sten admitted as plain fact

"Least he does not deny it" Morrigan commented off handedly

"He murdered children? We should just leave him" Alistair said

"The Qunari are renowned warriors, he could be of help if released to us" Leliana offered, at which point Mahalath rolled her head and headed off towards the Chantry building.

"I suggest you leave me to my fate"

"You'd rather be left to starve to death? Can't imagine a worse death" Sigurd said confused.

"Strange you say that" Dinah mumbled "You like purpose, we are Grey Wardens and our purpose is to stop the Blight. You should help" she said to Sten cheerfully.

"I see you've made the decision for us" Atarah said through a smile, apparently, the young mage had managed to endear herself to the older elf. "Is everyone else happy with this?"

"Can we trust him?"

"For what I have done my life is forfeit. If you wish to claim it to end the Blight so be it. It is as likely to bring my death as remaining here"

"I guess that settles it? Looks like we have a new addition to our team" Atarah said, Adaia jumped around happily.

"Mahalath, the key" Dinah said holding her hand out to the archer as she walked over, she handed her the key without a word.

"How did?" Rhiannon trailed of staring blankly as Dinah went and unlocked the cage, Sten stepped out cracking his bones and stretching his muscles out as he did so. He must have been in there for some time. Their party was really starting to build now, Atarah grabbed everyone's attention just as she was about to say something they heard someone shouting for help. Without hesitation, everyone drew their weapons and ran in the direction of the voice. It was two dwarves with a merchant's cart being attacked by a trio of bandits.

The bandits looked up froze staring at the group of now twelve including the dogs, before they dropped their weapons and ran. It was encouraging to see there were still people in the world smart enough to know when they have no chance at winning. A little bemused Brynja put her weapons away while Atarah and Rhiannon approached the dwarves, they looked like a father and son based on their age difference though for some reason the older man looked vaguely familiar.

"Are you alright? Any injuries?" Atarah asked them

"Nothing more than pride thanks to your timely intervention I must say. Names Bodahn Feddic, this is my son Sandal, say hello my boy" he said

"Hello" the boy said and Brynja froze looking at him, he had such a strong resemblance almost uncanny.

"Travelling merchant and entrepreneur though the roads been mighty dangerous as of late"

"I see where you're going with this but we're Grey Wardens. I'm not sure you'd consider us the best travelling companions" Rhiannon told him honestly.

"Ah perhaps too much excitement for my boy and I. I thank you for your help but we best be on our way" he said as he and his son sorted out their things.

"See you later" Dinah said waving them off "We need camping gear, do we have money?"

"Some, should be enough for the basics" Atarah said holding up a small coin purse. "Dinah, Cadfael you go get tents. Rhiannon, Alistair, Sten see about some new equipment Sten needs armour or at least a weapon. Brynja, Sigurd you come with me to get some food. Mahalath and Leliana you scout ahead for somewhere nearby we can set up camp. Morrigan." She paused thinking "I don't know what to do with you, pick a group?"

"Your leadership skills are impeccable" Morrigan lulled waltzing over to Cadfael and Dinah.

"Do I have to travel with her? I prefer scouting alone" Mahalath said gesturing to Leliana

"Yes you do, we have darkspawn, robbers and people looking to make money off the bounty on us coming after us so we're not going off by ourselves unless absolutely necessary" Atarah told her sternly, without a word Mahalath turned and started heading down the path quickly followed by Leliana. Atarah gave some of the coins from her purse to Dinah and Brynja as Rhiannon showed them she already had her own coin purse.

It was nearly sundown by the time everyone gathered together, supposedly part of the holdup was Cadfael and Dinah going around helping out refugees including giving money to an elven family that had been robbed on the road. Not surprisingly Atarah wasn't that annoyed when they told her they had no left-over money to give her. Though Morrigan looked displeased to have been running errands to help others. When Mahalath and Leliana returned they started down the road towards the spot Mahalath said would make a good camping spot.

They led them to a small flat section of land surrounded by hills with only a narrow out of the way path leading into it making it harder to find. It was wide enough that they could set up their tents and start a fire. They worked together quickly, except for Morrigan who set up her own bedding arrangements further away from the rest of the group. But for the first time since being recruited Brynja felt calm, and for that she was grateful.


	12. Chapter 11 Reaching Redcliffe

Sigurd had never been camping, though as a casteless dwarf with little money and the only places available that were out of the city were the Deep Roads so that was never a possibility. Still it was proving an interesting experience so far, they'd waited until a little too late to start setting up as the sun had set in the middle of them setting up the tents Cadfael and Dinah had bought leaving them to fumble in the dark. Even so they managed to get all six tents set up, that was all the vendors had but it meant there'd be tent sharing. When it came to building a fire Mahalath was able to quickly gather suitable pieces of wood which Cadfael set alight with a click of his fingers. Atarah had taken it upon herself to prepare the food Sigurd and Brynja had bought. The Qunari they picked up was off to the side changing into the armour they had bought for him, honestly Sigurd was surprised that they'd managed to find something that would fit the giant man.

Soon the smell of meat wafted through the air, it would be a little while before it was cooked but it was smelling good so far. Not that Sigurd would have much comparison for fine foods, to pass the time Sigurd went over to the outskirts of the area and cut down some of the shorter trees and dragged the trunks over to the campfire so they had something to sit on.

"Just… how strong are you?" Rhiannon asked as he moved the last trunk over setting it down.

"Strong enough I can pull an ogres kneecap out" he pointed out as he sat down, Dinah sat down next to him picking up his arm examining it with fascination. The strange bear of hers was sitting on top of her feet keeping them warm as she was still missing her shoes. One by one everyone took a seat while Atarah remained standing to cook the broth. Sigurd took a moment to look up at the sky, a surface merchant he met when he was younger told him about the lights in the sky. She said on her first night on the surface she'd been petrified because there was a horrible thunder storm, it had kept her awake for hours but eventually the rain and thunder stopped and the clouds parted. She'd described it as clear and pure diamonds filled with light bursting through the darkness, so bright that she thought she could just reach out at pluck them out. She spent the rest of the night just watching the sky counting the starts unable to take her eyes off them, and that seeing the stars set her soul at rest and assured her she'd made the right choice moving to the surface. It had been some years since Sigurd had heard that story but he still remembered it, wondering if the stars could be that wonderful and now here he was looking up at them.

"You can see Draconis" Cadfael said from next to Dinah, he pointed up towards the south "See?"

"Not had such a clear view of them since reaching the surface, we don't have this in Orzammar"

"If you live underground, how do you know what time it is? Or even if its day or night?" Dinah asked absentmindedly, Sigurd just gave her a deadpan look and didn't say anything.

"So, what do we know about Arl Eamon?" Rhiannon asked from her place beside Alistair "His men never arrived at Ostagar"

"He is the Arl of Redcliffe and uncle to Cailan, he raised me when I was younger. He's a good man, well respected in the Landsmeet. He won't be enough to defeat the horde but his help could help us punish Loghain for his crimes" Alistair informed everyone, at this point Atarah had started putting the cooked food into bowls passing them around.

"Raised you until he sent to the Chantry and you joined the Templars?" Atarah prodded

"I, yes. It's a complicated story, it's not important right now"

"Redcliffe is about a day's walk from here, I would really suggest we sort out something to put on Dinah's feet or they'll be ripped to shreds" Rhiannon said with concern "Though we will need to stop overnight during the journey as I don't think any of us want to walk for a whole day"

"How are we dividing up tent space?" Mahalath asked

"Morrigan has her own space, Cadfael doesn't mind sharing with me" Dinah paused to check as Cadfael gave her a nod "Atarah and Mahalath? You could share?"

"I don't mind" they both said, Sigurd noticed Leliana looked a little annoyed even a little jealous of those two sharing a tent.

"Leliana and Rhiannon, that gets us to three"

"I can share with Sigurd? I trust you won't try anything" Brynja joked light heartedly.

"So Sten and Alistair get a tent each" Digby and Adaia started barking at that, clearly annoyed that they weren't getting a designated tent.

"Mahalath, do you have anything against dogs?" Atarah asked, Adaia plodded over to Mahalath and sat her head on Mahalath's knee looking up at her with big puppy dog eyes. With a sigh, she gently petted the dogs head "Then you can sleep in our tent" Atarah told her dog happily, Adaia seemed happy enough to stay perched on Mahalath's lap while Atarah was eating.

"So tomorrow we get up early and get as close to Redcliffe as we can in one go" Rhiannon surmised.

"How's everyone holding up?" Atarah asked, no one said anything

"All things considered, I think I'm doin fine" Sigurd eventually said

"We're good" Cadfael said on his and Dinah's behalf "I got to meet some of my family, it's nice knowing they're out there"

"I agree" Mahalath muttered looking at her feet glumly

"When we get to Redcliffe I'm sure we can sort out letters, find a messenger? I know I want to let my dad know I'm okay"

"I don't even know where my clan is now, we were meant to move on when… when I was recruited"

"My betrotheds in Denerim I think, I know we can't just waltz into the city but I'd like to see him again soon" Brynja admitted

"Hey Atarah?" Dinah asked getting the others attention

"Yes?" she replied smiling

"Tell us a story? I think we could do with a good story"

"Oh I'm hardly that great a story teller, I'd probably just bore you all"

"If you tell us a story I can tell one too? We can compare tales, you might know some even I don't know" Leliana chimed in encouragingly.

"Um, okay then. Uh, how about the story of Talthas?" she started telling the story.

After Atarah finished her story Leliana told them some stories about her time living with the Chantry, after which Cadfael insisted they should all get some sleep which Sigurd agreed with.

Sigurd woke up early the next morning, Brynja was still snoring loudly on the bedroll next to him. He was amazed he got any sleep at all with the noise, but he just yawned as he climbed out the tent to see he was not the only one awake. The human mage was sitting by the campfire, sewing something small. Sigurd approached, slowly as he wasn't sure Cadfael had noticed him, when he was next to him he saw that the mage was making a pair of small leather shoes.

"I don't think those'll last long" Sigurd said sitting down next to him.

"You'd be surprised how well my clothes last. I've been making them for years"

"Heh, maybe you can do something about these old things then" Sigurd half joked pointing out to the old tattered clothing he wore under his armour, he'd had the same clothes for years now.

"I'd suggest getting new ones all together, here give me that shirt I'll fix what I can" Cadfael said putting the shoes to one side

"You being serious?" the look on Cadfael's face said he was, Sigurd handed over his shirt wincing slightly as a cold morning wind blew through the camp. He watched in fascination as Cadfael quickly patched up the wholes, there was a rustle to his left and from the corner of his eye he saw Rhiannon and Atarah climbing out of their respective tents with their respective mabari. Rhiannon visibly recoiled in shock on noticing Sigurd so he muttered an apology as the women joined them. Atarah looked around the camp in a confused worried gaze.

"She went hunting, said she'd be back in ten minutes" Cadfael told her and Sigurd saw her shoulders relax, he guessed Mahalath had gone wandering before Atarah woke up. By now the sun was starting to show over the hills surrounding their camp, it wasn't long after that that the rest of the group started waking up. Almost instantly Dinah came running out of her tent making a beeline for some trees, and five minutes later she came back with Mahalath in tow who didn't look as annoyed at being pulled along by her hand as Sigurd would have expected. The young archer looked like she hadn't slept very well but before he could as she marched up to Alistair who looked like he was barely awake and slapped him hard across the face.

"When were you going to tell us about the nightmares?!" she demanded.

"I thought there were more pressing issues to talk about and last night didn't feel like a good time, and well the dreams effect wardens differently so I wasn't sure how many of you would be affected by them" Alistair stammered "I really can't explain it anymore, it's things only Grey Wardens can know" he said looking to Leliana, Sten and Morrigan.

"Alistair. Morrigan has little interest in interacting people and likely is more knowledgeable about this then you believe, Sten has a death wish and Leliana believes herself to be on a divine mission to aid us. None seem to be great risks of exposing Grey Warden secrets so I suggest you tell us everything we should know about being a Grey Warden because I feel we've been left grossly uninformed" Alistair didn't say anything "I'll guess then. We drank Darkspawn blood infecting us rendering us immune to the Taint and allowing us to sense Darkspawn. The glowing eyes and slight burning sensation is a reaction to Darkspawn presence hence why they aren't glowing right now, another side effect is a connection to the Blight resulting in nightmares about the Darkspawn and Archdemon. Sound about right?" he asked pointedly

"Yes, the Taint gives us a connection to the Archdemon some Wardens are more strongly affected by the dreams than others. Some don't even have them really it varies"

"And what of Mahalath? She was already infected by the Taint before your order had her drink more of those things blood. Any side effects being a Warden has are going to be more severe for her, so anything else we should know?" Cadfael said by this point everyone had gathered more closely listening intently to what Alistair had to say.

"Being a Grey Warden is a lifelong commitment, you forfeit your lands and titles to dedicate yourself to the order. You need permission to marry but having a family… something about the Taint makes it, not impossible, but incredibly difficult for Grey Wardens to have children of their own. Most members of the order that have children had them before joining"

"So, you're saying being a Warden basically renders you infertile? And we have a hard-enough time having children in Orzammar" Brynja commented quietly, Sigurd looked over to Rhiannon the warrior woman was staring off into the distance she looked pained.

"Anything else?" Atarah asked through clenched teeth

"The Joining, it only slows the effects of the Taint. Eventually it will claim our lives, during Blights some Wardens only live ten years the rest of the time thirty maybe forty years but it will kill us all"

"I don't like this anymore" Dinah said tucking herself into Cadfael's side hugging her bear tightly, Sigurd felt a rush of anger.

"So, what you're telling us is that we've basically got a death sentence? That we'll likely never have kids? And that we'll be plagued with nightmares? Show of hands how many of us were fully willing recruits who weren't in some way manipulated into joining or forced by circumstance?" no one raised their hands.

"I'm sorry none of you came into this in the best of times, but being a Grey Warden is still a great honour and a noble cause"

"We just spent the night sleeping in tents because people believe we organised the death of the King and have a bounty on our heads, it doesn't exactly feel like an honour" Atarah bit back

"That's hardly mine or the Grey Wardens fault, that's Loghain's doing and we need to stop him"

"Yes that and amass an army, prove our innocence, kill an Archdemon and stop a Blight and goodness knows what else along the way when we only got recruited yesterday and witnessed a massacre" Brynja suddenly shouted

"And then you're saying at the end of the day should we succeed we can have no semblance of a normal life because we're oath bound to your order? I wanted to bring justice to my family and your leader wouldn't help me escape unless I gave myself to the Grey Wardens, I wanted a family of my own and now I can't even do that" Rhiannon snapped kicking the dirt.

"That's not fair!"

"No, it's not. Your supposed cure has a maximum life expectancy of thirty years, I probably won't last that long considering my situation. The Grey Wardens should have just let me die, at least I would have died with my clan" Mahalath added

"You shouldn't think like that" Leliana tried soothing the Dalish but Mahalath wanted nothing to do with the human woman shrugging her off. And then everyone was shouting angrily at each other, Rhiannon at Alistair, Alistair at Atarah, Morrigan at Leliana. The dogs were barking loudly in defence of their masters, Sten was standing off to the side just staring with a judgemental look.

"SHUT UP!" Sigurd roared over the group and it went silent, one by one they turned to look at Sigurd with a guilty look. "Look this is a load of shit for everyone, agreed?"

"Agreed" was the response

"We got a job to do. We'll do it cause it's all we can do, got it?"

"We're still going to save the day, right?" Dinah asked looking up at Sigurd hopefully

"Yeah, we're going to the save the day. We can deal with this stuff later, okay?" one by one everyone nodded, apologising amongst themselves, Sigurd turned his attention to Cadfael. "You seem to be taking this all well" the older mage handed Sigurd back his mostly repaired shirt for him to put back on.

"Compartmentalising. This was stuff we needed to know" Cadfael replied matter of factly, calmly helping Dinah put on the new shoes he'd finished making. She smiled brightly, gave him a kiss on the cheek and got up to start disassembling the camping equipment so they could move out. "Thank you for snapping everyone out of it, I wasn't sure how they'd react"

"Let's get moving, okay?"

It didn't take long to get the camp sorted out, Sten had been giving three tent packs to carry though the weight didn't seem to faze him. Apparently, Dinah had taken it upon herself to check on him, Qunari could survive extended periods of time without food she said he'd told her. The tall being acted oddly around Dinah, though it was kinda difficult to tell with how little the man visibly reacted, like he didn't know how to react to Dinah though maybe overly friendly elven mages doting on giants just wasn't a common occurrence where he was from. Alistair, Sigurd and Cadfael were left carrying the remaining packs. And with a strained silence and the sun behind them they started walking towards Redcliff.

According to the map they were close to Redcliffe, they'd slept overnight again on their way there, they'd been less communal that night. Sigurd had gotten Rhiannon to open up a little, she'd admitted to wanting a large family so she was rightfully saddened at the prospect of never getting to have one. She'd told him about her family too, Fergus in her story sounded like a good man and one Sigurd hoped was still alive. Supposedly her family was the second most powerful, just short of royalty in fact. This morning she was feeling better, leaving him to talk things out with Atarah while Dinah talked to Mahalath.

"Sleep well?" Sigurd asked snapping the girl out of her train of thought

"Not really. Mahalath was thrashing around a lot in her sleep, spent most of the night trying to keep her calm"

"You have these nightmares?"

"Not as vividly, I don't really remember it that well it just felt wrong" Atarah let out a sigh looking over to where Mahalath was walking, from here Sigurd could see a faint smile on her face. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to us, I don't doubt being thrown in jail would end horribly for me but I can't help but worry if what's in store for us is going to be worse"

"Jail?"

"A lord kidnapped a bunch of us from the Alienage and hurt my cousin so I killed him, they were going to arrest me but Duncan was there" Atarah quickly explained

"I get that. Anyone lays a hand on my sister I'd kill them too"

"We're coming up for Redcliffe now" Rhiannon shouted back from the front of the group. Sure enough when they reached the top of the hill they could see the town below. There was something wrong though, the buildings looked too broken down like a storm had run through it very recently and Sigurd could see smoke coming off one of them. A nervous look passed between the group before they started running down the hill.

 _Just a bit of filler to have the group get to know each other before we get fully into the plot._


End file.
